He's The Air She Would Kill To Breathe
by CasButtSalvatore
Summary: Sequel to It Will Always Be Damon. Elena escapes from Klaus but is unable to free her son from his evil clutches. Damon has gone off the deep end and may have killed someone very dear to his wife. Can their marriage survive as they fight helplessly to get their son back?
1. Awakening

Elena woke up in confusion. Her child was at her side, sleeping peacefully. She gently lifted him in her arms and his eyes fluttered open.

"Mommy…where's daddy?" She cradled him gently and stood up.

"I don't know but hush now baby, we need to figure a way out of here." She crept through the strange place as quietly as possible. Her bond with Damon let her know that he was somewhere nearby, so it was her first instinct to go there…question was, where was she and how could she escape? She wandered down a long corridor and out a door that lead to a large courtyard. Thinking she was home free, she ran to the other end of the court before Klaus appeared I front of her.

"And just where do you think you're going, love?" She stared hard into his face.

"How am I still alive and what did you do with my husband?" Klaus chuckled.

"A little spell work is how you're alive…I only needed to make it seem as if you had died. That husband of yours needed a break I'm afraid. As for his whereabouts I don't know and frankly don't care, he probably staked himself to end his own misery." He said with an evil smirk and a shrug of his shoulders. The idea of Damon being gone made Elena's heart clench and she through all of her strength into a punch to Klaus's face. Klaus flew a few feet, his nose pouring blood.

"Big mistake, love." He snapped his fingers and three hybrids were at his side instantly.

"Take the boy." Elena hissed and flashed her fangs, holding Sebastian protectively to her chest and then tried to run back in the opposite direction. Klaus was behind her in under ten seconds, pulling her back hard by her hair and making her watch in horror as the hybrids, far stronger than she, tore her son from her arms.

"No! Ian! Please let him go, let him go!" She screamed, unable to move from Klaus's grip as they vanished.

"He's the only one we really need…I ought to end you for that nasty punch." He said menacingly, turning her to face him and putting her in a choke hold. Suddenly Elena's eyes grew wide and her heart lurched. Klaus turned, wondering who she was staring at so intently. There he stood…fangs out, eyes blank and emotionless, her Damon.

"Ah, Damon. What brings you here?" He asked nonchalantly, dropping Elena to the floor.

"I'm going to destroy you." Klaus cocked his head to the side.

"If you kill me, you kill yourself and every vampire of your bloodline, Damon, don't be an idiot." Klaus said with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't care if they die, and I certainly don't care if I do. You took everything from me Klaus, and I'm going to avenge her." Elena stood, running to him.

"We're fine, Damon! You don't need to do this." He turned an icy glare to her.

"Shut up Katherine, I wasn't talking to you." Surprise washed over her features.

"I'm not…" She couldn't even get her words out before Damon growled loudly and lurched at Klaus, knocking him to the floor and holding the white oak stake above his heart. Damon almost wanted to laugh, thinking he'd gained the upper hand.

"See you in hell." He raised the stake but Klaus quickly turned the tables and had Damon on his back.

"I'd listen to your wife mate; otherwise you're going to get yourself killed." Damon turned his head to look at Elena.

"That's Katherine…It has to be. You killed my wife." Klaus got up as he saw one of his hybrids motioning for him.

"Well that's my cue to leave…since we've been found we're taking my little blood bag elsewhere." And with a big grin and a sarcastic wink to Damon, Klaus sped off.

"We have to chase him Damon, he has Ian!" Damon stalked toward Elena, his face inches from hers. She was half scared he'd strike her, but he didn't.

"Get out of my life, Katherine. You remind me of her, and I don't want to see you. And if you keep talking about Ian I will stake you, do you understand me?" Elena wanted to step back, but at the same time she knew her husband, and she knew he was savable. She reached out and took his hand, placing it in the middle of her chest.

"Do I feel like Katherine?" Damon's eyes were still blank but he didn't jerk his hand away, as if he were contemplating it. She moved in closer.

"Does this feel like Katherine?" She made a bold move and softly captured his lips. He didn't kiss back at first, and for a minute she thought he wouldn't. But suddenly his mouth opened, forcing her lips to part and shoved his tongue in her mouth. He pulled her closer to him and deepened the kiss, craving her taste. When he pulled back the expression in his eyes proved that he'd turned it back on.

"How are you alive? Somehow I know I'm going to regret turning this all back on…I know you must be Katherine, and this must be a sick joke. You feel like my Elena, the bond we share is screaming that you're right here, but you can't be. I watched you die." He admitted quietly, his ocean eyes filled with tears. She stroked his raven hair and gently smiled at him.

"Klaus charmed the stakes…Ian and I are okay. I'm here, Damon. I really am." She promised, hoping it would be enough to convince him. He caressed her hair and touched his forehead to hers.

"All these months I thought…Oh Elena you know what I thought. Don't you ever leave me again." He pulled her into a tight hug, crying a bit and breathing in as much of her scent as he could, confirming it was actually her.

"Months?" She asked in confusion. He pulled away.

"Elena, it's been three months…and I've done a lot of things you aren't going to like…as a matter of fact you'll probably divorce me." He stated sadly.

"Nothing you could have done would make me do that." She reassured him. His eyes were dark, his smile tragic.

"I killed off an entire town in North Carolina, Elena. And I might have also…killed Caroline." He whispered in horror, the guilt plain as day on his face.

"I was in a rage…after I thought I'd lost you both I couldn't handle myself." Elena's mouth dropped and she took a step back.

"W-We can talk about this later, right now we need to find our son." Damon nodded, still sad as he sensed Elena's disappointment in him and heartbreak over Tyler. The couple scoured the building at vampire speed, looking every place imaginable. Klaus, his hybrids, and their little boy, were gone.

"Damn it!" Damon screamed, angry that he'd let them get away. He looked over at Elena, and she was crying. He walked over to wrap his arms around her but she pushed him away.

"How could you do that Damon? What did she ever do to you?" Damon's expression darkened yet again and he sighed.

"I'm so sorry, I know she meant something to you…but Princess, she came to the boarding house right after your death and offered her condolences to _Stefan_. Stefan told her I was the one she should be consoling, but she told him that she thought I was your biggest mistake, the reason you died, and that she'd rather die than talk to me. She didn't know I was listening…but I was and I just snapped…the worst part was having to lie to Liz about it." Elena put her hand to her mouth and cried harder, unable to believe that one of her best friends had died at the hands of her husband.

"I need to see Stefan." She finally whimpered out. Damon looked hurt.

"Stefan?" She shot him an angry glare.

"Yes, Stefan, the good brother remember?" She snarled, running out of the building as fast as possible and leaving a dumbfounded Damon yet again all alone.


	2. Bunny Eater Bashing

Elena ran as fast as her legs could carry her, tears streaming down her face.

"Stefan! Stefan!" She screamed as she practically beat down the door to the boarding house. He opened the door and stood there in a bit of a shock.

"Katherine…I thought you were taking Scarlett out to the park…" Elena shook her head frantically, so tired of being mistaken for her Doppelganger.

"It's me…Elena. Please Stefan let me in, I need you." She whimpered. Stefan's face looked relieved yet sorrow filled as he pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair.

"It's okay, Elena, Shhh, let it out." He cooed gently, somehow managing to get the both of them inside and the door shut without ending the embrace. They made it to the couch and he sat down, pulling her into his lap.

"Where have you been? We all thought you were dead, Damon's emotions are off and he disappeared after…something happened, and Scarlett is all kinds of confused. We had to tell her you all went somewhere far away for a while on vacation." Elena cried a little harder.

"Don't cover it up, Stefan. I know what he did, he killed Caroline! Klaus had Ian and I killed with some sort of spelled stakes…we came back. Damon saved me but they got away with Ian. I need to know that my baby is safe Stefan!" She wailed, burying her face into his chest, his grip around her tightening.

"We will get him back, Elena. I promise you. I'll be better for you than Damon…I would never hurt you by killing your friends. We'll find Ian and we can be happy together, the five of us." He whispered, pulling her into a tender kiss. Stefan was surprised when he heard a loud pop noise and there was a stinging on his cheek. Elena had slapped him and was out of his arms and in a corner within seconds.

"What's wrong, Bunny?" He asked with a confused and hurt expression. However, Elena's expression had a deeper hurt etched into her delicate features.

"What the hell was that, Stefan?! I'm married to your brother and you're dating my great-great-great-great grandmother! I might be mad at him, but Damon is my whole world!" She yelled. Tears filled Stefan's eyes and he shook his head as if to clear his thoughts.

"What has happened to you, Elena? We were so happy…_I _used to be your world. You've changed." Elena stalked to the door and put her hand on the knob, looking over her shoulder into the piercing green eyes she used to adore.

"I haven't changed, Stefan. You just don't know what I look like when I'm not in love with you." She spat opening the door and walking into something firm and dressed in black. She looked up to find Damon staring down at her. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled into his neck.

"I'm so sorry Damon…" He kissed the top of her head and pulled her close.

"No, I don't blame you for hating me." She sniffled.

"I could never hate you, Damon. Not ever, I just…Caroline was my friend…" She cried, feeling him nod his head above her.

"I know, Princess. I know, and I'm sorry….please, I need to know that you forgive me."

"I forgive you." She whispered softly. Stefan walked up behind them, interrupting the moment.

"That's beautiful, Elena. Damon gets your immediate forgiveness for killing your friend but when all I do is kiss you I get slapped in the face?!" Damon's blood ran cold and his eyes darkened.

"You did what? He kissed you, just now?" He asked Elena incredulously. She nodded her head and Damon was on Stefan in two seconds flat. He hissed, flashing his fangs and pouncing on his younger sibling. They hit the floor and Damon punched Stefan in the face, and then again, and again, and again. The force of the blows breaking Stefan's nose and causing blood to pour onto the both of them.

"For three goddamn months I thought the love of my life was dead, DEAD Stefan, and the moment I get her back you force your tongue down her throat?! Burn in hell baby brother." He got up and kicked Stefan's neck in just the right place, crushing the top of his spine. Damon took a deep breath, walking back to the doorway and swooping Elena into his arms. He carried her up the stairs to their bedroom, laying her in their bed and crawling in beside her. He was looking at her intently, his eyes smoldering and full of bottled up emotions.

"I love you so much, so much. I'm going to get our son back, and we'll be happy again." He murmured, inching closer to her face. Her breath hitched in the back of throat, three years of marriage to Damon and he still made her swoon like a teenage girl.

"I love you too, Damon." Their lips touched very slowly, very gently. Damon touched her as if she were made of gold, as if she was the most precious thing in the world…because to him, she was. He entwined his fingers in her hair, one hand softly caressing up her back. Elena tugged at the hem of his shirt but Damon brushed her hand away. She pushed her bottom lip out in a playful pout.

"Hubby doesn't want me anymore?" She said with a bat of her eyelashes. Damon smiled for the first time in three months, genuinely, and touched his forehead to hers.

"No, Hubby doesn't want to push Wifey into sex with him when she's upset." He explained, trying to sound solemn but breaking out in a smirk at saying wifey.

Elena giggled and pinched him under his arm in mock-irritation.

"Ouch baby!" He chuckled, biting at her earlobe in playful revenge.

"I'm not getting over Caroline any time soon, but you're my husband and I need you, I love you. I understand why you did it…and honestly after everything she's put us through she deserved it. So right now, I just want to be with you." She said sleepily, nuzzling her face into his chest.

"You're my wife, Elena. Well be together forever…if you'll have me that long." He said quietly.

"I want to be with you forever." She whispered. He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her tight, having longed for these moments he'd thought he'd never get back.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you. I promise you, I'll be a better husband, a better father. I will never fail you again, my Princess." She didn't respond and he knew she was asleep, but that was okay. He just needed to say it, to make the vow to the woman he loves that no matter what happened, he was her knight in shinning armor, and he was going to make sure that she never felt the need to run to his bunny consuming freak of a brother ever again. She was Mrs. _Damon _Salvatore, and if beating the living fuck out of Stefan was what it took to make him remember that…then so be it.

"Game on, Little Brother." Was the last thing he murmured before kissing Elena one last time and drifting off to sleep


	3. Enter Alaric!

Damon woke up to Elena screaming. Damon bolted upright, gently shaking and nudging his wife.

"

Elena, baby wake up. Elena!" He shook her a little harder and her eyes shot open. She immediately began to cry and Damon pulled her into him. His face was worn with worry and he kissed the top of her head.

"

Shhh it's just a nightmare." He soothed, running his fingernails in circular motions along her back. She whimpered a little and gazed into her husband's deep blue eyes.

"

We have to get Ian back, Damon. I dreamed the worst…we have to make him safe again." Damon cupped her chin with his hand.

"

We will, I'm going to save our son if it's the last thing I do. I'm not losing him again." He reassured her. She cuddled into the crook of his neck and tried to calm down. Damon stroked her hair very gently, his other hand massaging the small of her back. She hadn't realized what it would feel like to have their bond ignite again, the simple touch of his fingers setting her body on fire. She let out a tiny moan and Damon sighed thoughtfully.

"It feels like being bathed in Icy Hot, doesn't it?" He felt Elena nod against his skin.

"Normally it's just a warm sensation…this burns. It's almost like being in vampire heat." Damon burst into laughter.

"Well that's one way to put it. I think it's because we've been apart for so long. I've missed you so bad baby…needed your kiss and touch and your love more than I've ever even needed air." Elena could hear the pain dripping from his voice and it broke her heart.

"I promise you…I will _never_ leave you again." She moved from her place by his side and climbed on top of him, straddling his waist. She bent down and gently kissed down his neck to his collar. Damon's heart began to beat to the sound of Elena's breathing and his hands snaked around her waist.

"Elena stop, I told you I wouldn't push you in to anything, especially not after everything that's happened. I don't deserve you." Elena cupped his face with her hands and forced him to look her in the eyes.

"Damon, you aren't forcing me into anything, this is something _I _want. I need you, I need to feel our connection. If anyone deserves love, it's you. I love you." Damon couldn't take it anymore, pushing Elena onto her back at vampire speed and forcing their lips together harshly. Elena responded roughly, the friction of the kiss leaving her lips scorched and swollen. She fisted his raven hair and pulled him as close to her body as possible. Before he even knew what was happening his fangs were in her neck, sucking savagely as he kicked off his jeans and tore Elena's right down the middle and threw the tattered material to the floor. She broke their kiss and ridded herself of her shirt and bra while Damon simply popped the buttons right off his and shrugged it off, not caring that it was his newest John Varvatos. Elena stuck her fangs into the flesh on a more interesting place, right where his ear stopped and his jaw started. They fed on each other for a moment before coming up for air, allowing Damon the chance to slowly penetrate her. She gasped and flung her head back, calling out his name loudly. Damon smirked, finally feeling more like his old self again.

"I love you so so so so so much." He cooed, all his walls down as they usually were with her. His heart was no longer missing it's biggest piece, and he wanted her to know that he was so grateful for that.

"I love you too, Damon. Always." He slammed into her hard, riding her as passionately as their first time, aching to feel her love. He began to bite her neck, her shoulder, her breasts, her stomach, everywhere he would reach. He wanted to mark her as his even though he knew the places would heal as quickly as he left them. She was his and he was hers, this was his was of confirming that…because after everything that had happened in his life he _needed _to confirm it. Needed to know that all of it was real, needed to know that he had found the one girl that would never leave him.

Elena was close, her legs tightening around Damon's waist and her fingers yanking harder than ever at his hair. Damon moaned loudly, firmly placing one of his hands on the headboard for support and the other on Elena's ass, giving it a nice squeeze.

"D-Damon!" He grinned and buried his face into her chest.

"Let go, Princess. We'll do it together." No less than a minute after he spoke they both had explosive orgasms, collapsing on top of one another, happy that the heat was now less intense. Elena snuggled into his arms and he wrapped himself life a protective cocoon around her.

"I'm so lucky to have you for a wife." He whispered, stroking the side of her face. Elena closed her eyes, basking in the sound of her husbands velvet voice, feeling safe in his warmth.

"And when we find Ian we'll be a family again. I'm not letting that moronic half-dog brain-dead loser destroy what we've built. It's too precious to me." Elena beamed.

"Did you just call him Ian?" Damon mentally kicked himself, knowing that this meant she had won their little name game.

"I…Might have." She giggled.

"You did! I knew deep down you liked it." He sighed and rested his head against her.

"It's perfect." Truth was, Damon still loved Sebastian, but after nearly losing both of them, the name that Elena preferred had become closer to his heart. They laid like that for a while before Alaric suddenly barged in.

"Time for you two to stop feeling sorry for yourselves and get out of bed, I have a lead on where Klaus might be." Damon sat up and smirked at his friend, making sure he pulled the covers over Elena.

"We weren't exactly feeling sorry for ourselves…I don't usually do that naked." Alaric practically turned green.

"Damon please…Elena is practically my daughter, that's nasty." Damon shrugged, looking smug and chuckling to himself.

"Anyway, where is he?" Elena's muffled voice interjected from underneath the covers, where Damon had over-cautiously covered her head too. Alaric sighed.

"Take a guess…where does Klaus seem to like to hide?" Damon rolled his eyes.

"Chicago? Well that's predictable."

"I know, which is why we need to be super-careful, I don't know what he's planning." Damon got a mischievous look in his eye and lifted the covers.

"Well that means one thing: Road trip! Get up and get dressed, Baby." He said, giving her ass a loud slap. Elena half-yelped half giggled and Alaric headed for the door with an amused expression.

"Sometimes I wonder if it was a mistake to let her marry you." He said in mock-disappointment, his broad smile giving him a way. Damon returned the grin and gave Alaric his best Smolder-Eyes.

"You know you love having me as a best friend/sort-of-son-in-law."

"Well said Damon." Alaric said with a laugh, exiting the room and waiting for the couple in the foyer.

"You're an ass, you know that?" Elena giggled, sitting up and pulling the covers off.

"Yes, but I'm _your _ass." She smiled.

"Of course you are." She said as she reached over and gave him a light kiss that left his heart happy for once and put a bright start to the new day.


	4. Road Trips and Windows

Damon happily packed an overnight bag for both Elena and himself and threw it into the trunk of his electric blue 1967 Chevy Camaro. He even put a few of Ian's clothes in the bag and packed his stuffed bunny, which he called "Bun-Bun", and his favorite white and blue polka dotted blanket. Elena came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

"You're packing Bun-Bun and Blankie?" She asked in a half-hearted sigh. He reached behind him and took her hand, rubbing it gently.

"We're gunna find him, Elena. And when we do, I know he's going to want them…especially that damn rabbit, I swear it's the best five bucks Stefan ever spent. Ian doesn't go anywhere without it…" He trailed off, wondering how his son was doing. He was worried about how he was sleeping, he normally wouldn't go to sleep without his bunny, blanket, and without Damon and Elena singing to him.

"You okay?" Damon shook his head to clear his thoughts and then turned to face Elena, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

"I'm fine, Princess. I'm actually in a good mood today, I _love _going on road trips with you." He said with a flirtatious wink. Elena blushed and reached up to peck Damon's lips before getting in the car.

"Makes me wish we were going to Georgia." She mumbled. Damon climbed into the drivers seat with a goofy grin on his face.

"Georgia happens to be my _favorite _road trip destination, as you should know. Maybe I'll take you back there once we get Ian back…I bet he'd love it there, it's a beautiful state." Elena watched Damon in awe as he drove her and Alaric to Chicago and talked about all the places they could show their son once he was a little older. Being a father had definitely changed him, he was still her sarcastic bad-ass, but he had such an instinctive fatherly nature about him now…and she adored it.

They arrived in the Windy City around four PM and Damon pulled into a Motel.

"Alright Ric, any ideas on where he might be staying?" Damon asked as both he and Elena turned to look at him. Alaric looked down a paper in his hands.

"He's supposed to be staying in a hotel on 10 South Wabash Avenue, somewhere near that big metal bean sculpture you see when you enter the city." Damon smiled and nodded.

"Great, I know exactly where that is. The Silversmith Hotel…I stayed there once when I visited Stefan in the twenties." Elena suddenly seemed very excited.

"We really are going to find him, Damon." Damon leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"I told you, Princess. You're the best, Ric." Damon got out of the car and went around to open Elena's door. When she got out Damon put her on his back and was gone in the blink on an eye.

"Damn it Damon…this is the second time you've done this to me! You could have at least let me out first…there are only two doors!" He didn't even know why he was still yelling, Damon and Elena were long gone. While Alaric was trying to climb over the passenger seat, Damon and Elena had just made it to the Silversmith Hotel.

"Damon I feel weird…" Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Don't, baby, I'm not going to fail you. We are bringing him home tonight if it's the last thing I do." Elena shook her head.

"That's not what I meant…I mean my instincts and senses feel sharper than usual, like they did when I was pregnant with Ian." Damon rubbed Elena's leg, who was still on his back, and smiled.

"It's probably because he's in danger. Good mother's have that strong sense of worry for their children, makes them more alert. You're a very good mother, Elena, that's why." She blushed and nuzzled him as he walked into the hotel lobby. Elena hopped off his back and grabbed his hand and they walked to the reception desk. A tall bubbly blond in a navy blue uniform smiled and took out a large notebook.

"Are you two checking in?" Damon wanted to gag at the woman's sickly sweet voice, and Elena subtly wrapped both her arms around Damon's waist, not liking the way she was eyeing her husband.

"No my _husband _and I are visiting a guest here." Damon shot Elena a look of surprise and a smug smile curled onto his lips. The receptionist ignored Elena and reached out to touch Damon.

"Which room is your friend in, Pumpkin?" Damon decided to end the conversation before Elena started hissing at the woman. He brushed her hand away.

"You are not attracted to me. Tell me what room Klaus Mikaelson is in and leave me alone before my wife attacks you." Elena smiled a bitchy little smile at the now-compelled woman behind the counter as she handed them a sticky note with Klaus's room number scribbled on it. They walked down a long corridor to a row of elevators and Damon turned to smirk at Elena.

"Since when are you so possessive of little old me?" She turned purple.

"I don't know…I told you my instincts are sharper than usual today…and one of those instincts is protecting you." They walked onto the elevator and Damon pushed her up against the wall and captured her lips, their tongues dancing and his hands in her hair.

"That is so cute." He breathed, pulling away from her as the elevator reached the fourteenth floor. They walked to room three-hundred and thirty three and Damon told Elena to stand behind him. He took a protective stance in front of her and kicked the door down. There Klaus was, sitting on the bed with Ian in his lap and a female hybrid was feeding from Ian's wrist. The sight of her sons blood and the sound of his whimpers made something snap inside of Elena. A low growl erupted from her chest and her eyes turned crimson, thick black veins marring her face. Elena ripped the woman away from her child and kicked her into the nearest wall.

"Mommy!" Ian chimed, happy to finally see his mother after being separated. Damon rushed to Ian's side, but Klaus wasn't going down without a fight, knocking Damon onto his back. Ian sat on the top of the bed, watching in innocent interest, he wasn't scared anymore now that he thought his daddy was here to save him.

"Don't you ever touch my son again, you stupid bitch." Elena snarled, bashing the hybrid's head in with the bedside lamp. The hybrid, being the stronger breed was un-phased, grabbing Elena by her hair and kicking blows to her stomach as hard as she could. Elena screamed, feeling several ribs crack and break. Damon wrestled Klaus to where he was the one on bottom and kneed him in his groin, buying himself enough time to go to Elena's rescue.

"**_Don't you touch her._**" Damon's voice had the most menacing and evil tone to it, one that rivaled Klaus's as he snapped the girls neck and threw her limp body out the hotel window. Damon quickly turned around to another one of Elena's shrill screams, and Klaus had shoved a stake through her back.

"No!" He yelled, running to her aid. Klaus laughed spitefully.

"Nice try Salvatore's…you really do love your boy don't you? Cute." He said matter-of-factly as he grabbed Ian and fled from the still open window.

"D-Damon…he didn't hit me in the heart, I'll be okay. G-Go get Ian, you _have _to chase Klaus this time…we can't let him get away this time." Elena's voice was barely a whisper and Damon kissed her forehead.

"I'm not leaving you alone, let me call Ric, he'll stay here with you until you're healed." He called Alaric, who said he'd be there in five.

"We don't have five minutes, go, Damon. I'll be fine until he gets here. _Save our baby_." She whispered with tears in her eyes. Damon nodded and gave her one last kiss before disappearing out the window.

Alaric ended up getting there in about ten minutes, traffic had been bad.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Elena, have you healed? You alright?" Elena was still laying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Her breathing had slowed and her vision was getting blurry.

"R-Ric…I'm not healing…" Ric kneeled down and examined her, the hole from the stake was still pouring blood and she had large purple bruises all along her stomach.

"Oh god…it's a good thing I called Meredith incase Ian needed medical attention, she's already staying here in a place nearby. I'll call her." Elena began to cough and a little blood sputtered out.

"Don't die on me sweetheart, I'm calling her right now. You're going to be fine…I wouldn't let anything happen to my daughter." He said gently, kissing her forehead and carrying her to the bed.

"Meredith…it's me. You'd better get to the Silversmith right now, it's an emergency."


	5. Adopted Twice and You Know You're Loved

Damon arrived back in Mystic Falls three days later, having heard from Alaric that he and Meredith had had to transport Elena back for hospitalization that Meredith could better monitor. Damon was worried sick, but felt better knowing that he'd be able to show her their son, whom he'd finally snatched from Klaus. Ian was curled up in Damon's arms in his blanket and with Bun-Bun securely in his little embrace. Damon sped to the hospital and demanded at the desk to know where his wife was. He ran to room four hundred and eighty eight, trying his hardest not to jostle Ian who was still fast asleep. When he got there Stefan was waiting outside the door.

He shot his brother a pleading look.

"How is she, Stefan? Why isn't she healing?" Stefan shook his head solemnly.

"I don't know Damon...Meredith is trying her best but things are looking bleak. I'm sorry." Damon cursed under his breath, practically knocking the door off it's hinges as he burst into the room. Elena wasn't conscious and Meredith was carefully monitoring her midsection with something that looked painfully familiar to Damon. He looked up at the ceiling, praying for the first time in a very very long time. He knew what that machine was and he knew he couldn't handle it if they'd lost something they didn't even know they had.

"Meredith...no, please tell me it's not that." He half begged, his eyes glazing over and his chest already beginning to heave a little in panic. She nodded and shot him a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sorry Damon...Elena is pregnant." Damon took a deep breath in an effort to pull himself together enough to speak.

"I-is it okay?" Meredith smiled meekly.

"Right now, yes. I think her body isn't healing because its trying its damnedest to heal the child, which had been damaged by the blows Elena received to the stomach. The fetus is healing slowly but surely...we're just trying to keep Elena alive long enough to make sure they _both _heal." Damon sat Ian in one of the hospital chairs and walked over to his wife, gently stroking her face.

"You'll survive, Princess. We always survive." Alaric was on the other side, holding Elena's hand tight and caressing her hair. Damon looked at him with concern.

"You okay, Ric?" Alaric shook his head.

"Honestly…no, I'm not. I should have adopted Elena…let her know that I'd be there to fill the role as her father, love her like the child I'd always wanted to have with Isobel. Let her know that she'd never be without family. Now I could lose her, and I never got to tell her any of that. I'd love to get to call Ian family too, the kid needs more living people in his life." Damon put his hand on Alaric's shoulder.

"Elena might be twenty one, but you can still adopt her…do you even realize how much that would mean to her? You won't lose her, I'm not letting her go again." He said firmly, more to convince himself than Alaric as he bent over and gently pecked her lips.

"Wake up for me baby, almost your entire family is here to see you. Open your eyes for me, Angel." He urged gently, glancing down at the ultrasound.

"Are you sure our baby is going to be okay?" Meredith smiled.

"Well from the looks of things the baby has officially healed now…it took it three days, but I'm pretty sure it's okay now. We just have to see what happens with Elena." Ian's eyes fluttered open and he walked sleepily over to Damon.

"Daddy…what's wrong with Mommy?" Damon picked him up and held him close to his chest.

"She's just taking a little longer to heal, she'll be okay." Ian reached out for Elena's hand, taking two of her fingers in his little palm.

"Mommy's pretty when she sleeps. Are all girls that pretty, Daddy?" He asked quietly. Damon smiled softly and kissed the top of his sons head.

"No, your mother is very special. I've never met anyone quite as beautiful as she is."

"Except Aunt Katherine?" Damon chuckled.

"Your mother and your aunt may look basically the same, but there's just something about Elena that…" He trailed off, noticing that Elena's eyes had just rolled open. The open wound in her chest was starting to close up and the bruises on her stomach were beginning to fade. Damon's heart lurched, hope filling every inch of him and he couldn't stop the smile that broke out on his face.

"My Princess of Darkness…my Ice Queen…say something, anything." He whispered, staring intently into her deep brown eyes. Everyone but Elena and Ian were giving Damon quizzical looks, not being used to the weird pet names since Damon usually kept those things between her and him only. Elena smiled faintly and croaked out "_Sebastian._" Ian grinned, trying his hardest to mimic Damon's and squeezed Elena's fingers.

"Are you better now?" The last of the bruises cleared up and Elena sat up, looking herself over and nodded.

"I think I'm back to normal…I'm not in pain anymore, don't worry." She said with a happy smile, practically glowing now that she knew her son was safe. She looked up at Damon.

"You saved him." Damon gave her a slight nod and then bent down to kiss Elena's stomach very gently. She cocked her head to the side.

"I'm alright, Damon, you don't have to kiss it better." She said with a playful roll of her eyes. Damon beamed and pulled her into passion filled kiss, tenderly stroking her abdomen with his thumb.

"I wasn't kissing your broken ribs better, Sweetness, I was kissing our baby better." Her eyes widened and Damon sighed happily, glad that they were both okay and he could tell his wife the good news.

"O-Our what?"

"That's why you didn't heal right away, Elena. Your body was busy healing and saving your baby. Congratulations." Meredith interjected. Tears filled Elena's eyes and she smiled up at Damon.

"I can't believe it." Damon curled into bed with Elena and Elena pulled Ian into her lap.

"I'm going to be there this time. I promise you that. Things are going to be different, I'll protect all three of you so much better." He said into her neck, actually being the one to nuzzle _her _for a change.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too." Ian was quiet for a few minutes, as if deep in thought. Then he turned to Alaric, who was still standing by Elena's bedside, looking like he was choking back relieved tears.

"Grandpa Ric…why is my mommy having a baby?" Alaric's eyes widened in alarm.

"Whoa kid, I know I said I wanted to adopt your mom, but I am _not _so keen on being called Grandpa. And um…your mom is having a baby because…your dad kissed her, so you should never kiss any girl, you hear?" He said with a weird smile on his face, not sure whether he wanted to laugh at what he had just said or get drunk enough to forget it. The entire room burst into laughter and Elena looked fondly at Alaric, reaching for his hand.

"You want to adopt me?" He smiled.

"You're the daughter I always wanted. I should have adopted you _and _Jeremy before now…I want to officially be family to you, Elena. I don't have one of those." Elena started to cry, pulling him into a hug.

"Yes you do. I've been your child since you got with Jenna, Ric. You know that." Meredith handed Alaric some paperwork that she'd been secretly getting together for him for a while.

"You could do it right now if you wanted too." Alaric winked at her.

"You are so handy." Meredith laughed.

"I try to be." He signed the adoption papers and handed them to Elena.

"Only if you're sure." She dried her tears on her hospital gown and signed her name on the paperwork too.

"I'm one hundred percent sure." He leaned over and kissed her cheek and Damon smirked.

"It's official…I'm your son-in-law and you get to be Grandpa Ric." Alaric rolled his eyes.

"Get your head out of your ass, Damon. It's not a hat." The two exchanged sarcastic yet elated smirks and Elena snuggled with her two favorite Salvatore boys while she listened to the entertaining banter of the unusual family she was so lucky to be a part of.


	6. Complicated

Damon carried Elena home and tucked her into their bed, kissing her forehead and leaving to tuck Ian into his own. Elena giggled and rolled her eyes.

"Damon…I'm not an invalid, I could have walked here and I don't need bed rest." Damon walked into the room and shook his head.

"Yes baby, you _are _an invalid, at least until I tell you otherwise." She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout.

"Daaaamon, that's not fair." He snorted.

"Don't give me that sweet little voice, Princess. I just want you home for a while. Okay?" He said as he climbed into bed with her and wrapped her in his arms very gently.

"I'm going to be your white knight, I'll protect you from anything that could possibly hurt you." She smiled.

"You've always done that, Damon." He sighed.

"Obviously not well enough. Otherwise Stefan wouldn't have struck you, you wouldn't be a vampire, Stefan wouldn't have almost caused Ian to be premature, Stefan wouldn't have sent you into labor a second time, and most of all you wouldn't have been taken from me." Now it was Elena's turn to sigh and she gently rubbed his arm as it tightened around her.

"Some things are blessings in disguise, Damon. If Stefan had never hit me we might not have broken up when we did…and if I wasn't a vampire we wouldn't have any children. Don't beat yourself up, we're all okay, and soon we'll have another baby to cuddle with." She said as she moved his hand to her stomach. He began to softly stroke it, groaning when the doorbell rang. He got up kissing her forehead and muttering "Yeah well I'm keeping this one home forever." Elena rolled her eyes and got up to walk with Damon to the door. Damon glared at her for getting up, especially since he'd tucked her in all snug and sound, but she just laughed and threw him the lopsided smile that she learned from him. He couldn't resist, pecking her lips and mirroring the smile before turning the doorknob.

"What're you doing here, Little Gilbert?" Jeremy ignored him, throwing his arms around his sister.

"No one told me you had even gotten hurt, I had to hear it from _Meredith _when she called to check on you! Some husband Damon turned out to be." He grumbled coldly.

"Hey you little dick, so not my fault. I told Stefan to call you as we were leaving. If that self-righteous bastard forgot than it's on _him_." Jeremy ignored Damon again, his eyes falling on Elena's midsection.

"And I'm having another nephew or a niece? Just like Damon to get in your pants right after you escaped Klaus…I swear, sex is like his coping mechanism or something." This time Elena glowered at her brother.

"That wasn't Damon's fault, Jere, I came on to _him_." She shrugged.

"Maybe it's _my _coping mechanism." The thought of that made Jeremy shutter and Damon break into a smug smile. The three of them went to sit on the couch in front of the fireplace, Damon pouring him and Jeremy some bourbon and getting Elena one of Ian's juice boxes.

"Thought the baby would like something less strong." He said with a wink, sitting between her and her brother and throwing his arm over her shoulder. Jeremy cleared his throat and sat forward to get a better look at Elena.

"Well Sis, there are officially no more Gilberts in Mystic Falls." Elena tilted her head to the side.

"What do you mean…you're sitting right here." Jeremy grinned.

"Alaric came by the house last night…he adopted me. I took his last name, I figured that whenever I have children it would be nice to carry on the Saltzman name since Ric has never really had a family. Not after Isobel. And you're a Salvatore now…everyone else is dead. No more Gilberts." He said with a shrug. Elena smiled.

"That was sweet of you, to take Alaric's name. He adopted me too, earlier today when I woke up in the hospital." Jeremy looked surprised.

"Did you take his last name too?" Damon scoffed.

"Of course not, she's my wife dude, she'll always have my last name." Jeremy's lips curled up into a sarcastic half-smile.

"Not unless you two get divorced." Damon growled and Elena snuggled into his side, practically purring as their bond ignited.

"That would never happen and you know it, Jere. Quit teasing my mate, he knows I love being Mrs. Damon Salvatore." Love burned behind Damon's eyes and leaned over, nibbling at Elena's ear lobe.

"I love you." She giggled and touched her forehead to his.

"I love you too." Jeremy almost gagged.

"First I hear about those creepy ass nicknames Damon has for you from Meredith and now I hear you call him your mate? You two are so whipped." Jeremy said with a snort, trying to shake the image of Damon affectionately biting his sister out of his head. Damon was about to say something undoubtedly witty, but the doorbell rang again. Elena started to get up but Damon gingerly pushed her back down.

"No, Princess. Don't over-exert yourself, I'll get it." Jeremy grimaced.

"Don't tell my sister what to do!"

"Let it go Jere, he caudles me, it's what he does." She said, giving Damon a sappy love-stricken look. He returned the look, his ocean eyes seeming bluer, deep with smoldering adoration. He simply winked at her and answered the door. Matt was standing at the door with a worried look in his eyes, and Katherine and Scarlett came in behind him.

"ELENA! Are you okay? Oh my god!" Katherine squealed, running to her best friend and pulling her off the couch and into her arms. Damon was standing awfully close, watching with his arms folded.

"Kat…not so hard." Damon warned. Elena and Katherine both turned to give him a look and then Matt nudged Katherine out of the way, claiming his turn to hug Elena.

"I didn't know you were hurt until Jeremy called, you okay?" Elena nodded, a little bewildered by all the attention.

"Yes, lord between you guys and Damon I swear." Katherine smiled.

"And the hormones kick in." She teased, hugging her doppelganger again.

"I would have let Matt in myself considering I live here too, but Matt insisted on knocking. He's a little weird." She said with a shrug, causing Matt to blush a little. Stefan walked down the stairs and handed a rather distracted Scarlett some crayons and then approached Elena. He gently caressed the side of her face with the back of his hand.

"How you feeling, Bunny?" Damon grabbed Stefan's arm and hissed loudly, baring his fangs and silencing the entire room.

"No need to be a mother hen, Damon, jeez. I'll back off." Stefan said with his hands in the air defensively, backing away. Elena turned her head to the side.

"What's wrong with you, Damon?" He sighed and turned on his heels, ignoring the question and heading upstairs.

"I'm going to go talk to him." Elena said, dismissing herself from the worried family downstairs and walking to her and Damon's bedroom. She found Damon on their bed with one hand behind his head and a bottle of whiskey in the other. She closed the door, sighing softly and climbing on her side beside him.

"Damon…what's going on? Why are you acting like this?"

"For a split second in the hospital I thought you had miscarried. Do you have any idea how I felt? And to top it off I thought I was losing you again…Elena, you've almost been taken from me too many times and last time something inside of me shattered. I feel this overwhelming need to make sure you're 100% safe…I know I'm being possessive but I don't know how else to be right now." Elena leaned over and kissed him very gently.

"I understand, Damon. But you need to chill out, you know everyone in our living room, they'd never hurt me." Damon nodded and pulled her on top of him.

"I know, Princess. I just need time to get over some of this…I'm not used to giving a damn about people and now that I do…it's complicated." She laughed and stretched herself out on him, laying her head on his chest.

"Everything is complicated with us." He kissed the top of her head.

"I know. We're twin flames you and I…we're just a like and that means we're equally as jealous, controlling, and down right…complicated." He said with a chuckle, petting her hair and closing his eyes. She snuggled in more and closed her eyes, the warmth of their bond making her extra cozy on her husband's chest.

"You might be complicated…but you're perfect." She whispered.

"I'm far from perfect, Elena. I'm so sorry…I've done so many things to hurt you." She gripped his shirt and buried her face into his chest.

"It's okay. You blame yourself way to much…I forgive you." He smiled tenderly, thanking god silently that he'd found such an amazing girl.

"It's _you _that's perfect, my most beautiful, complex princess of darkness." They both drifted into a content sleep, despite having company downstairs. After all that had happened recently, Damon and Elena really just needed one thing and nothing else. No more interruptions or obstacles, no more people getting in the way. All the couple needed in that moment…was each other.


	7. Brothers From Another Mother

*Klaus's POV*

I walked down a lonely street, darkness consuming the night. I sauntered into a bar, taking a seat at the bar and ordering a glass of Brandy. Tears filled my cerulean eyes as I downed the beverage, enjoying the burning sensation that slid down my throat. The same burning sensation that was alight in my heart. I was going to destroy Damon Salvatore for taking her away from me. When Damon took Sebastian back he let it slip…bad move. I slammed my glass down has hard as I could, shattering it into a million pieces.

"Hey…you're going to have to pay for that." I cocked my head to the side, my anger rising like molten lava to the surface.

"I think you're greatly mistaking." I hopped over the bar counter, pulling the bartenders head back and taking his neck in my mouth, chewing savagely at his flesh. Warm thick blood poured into my mouth but it didn't bring me any pleasure…any joy. Killing the useless waist of air I was feeding on wasn't enough to make me smile, enough to take away the pain. Caroline Forbes…I'd loved her more that anything in my thousand years on this Earth. The way her long blond hair gently cascaded down her shoulders and her bright blue eyes twinkled when she smiled. Her laugh that rang out like an angel singing, and the way she always smelled of freshly picked roses. I longed to brush my hand along her silky smooth skin and whisper in her ear that she was safe. But she wasn't safe, she'd been ripped from me. I dropped the bartenders lifeless body to the floor and didn't even bother wiping the warm red liquid from my lips and chin as I walked out of the bar and headed towards Gloria's. If anyone knew how to bring someone back from the dead it was her, and I was determined that I wasn't spending the rest of my eternity without the one person that gave me a reason to continue existing.

*Back to Elena and Damon*

Elena and Damon woke up to the sound of Katherine yelling and what sounded like Scarlett crying. Ian had somehow wedged himself between Damon and Elena and was covering his ears, curling his little body into Damon's side.

"What's wrong, Sebas, is your aunt okay?" Damon asked, sitting up and pulling his son into his lap.

"Uncle Stefan is yelling at her. I told Scarlett to come upstairs with me but…" Elena gently rubbed his back.

"But what?"

"But Aunt Katherine tried to leave with her instead and Uncle Stefan got really mad…he hit her. Then I ran upstairs." Ian's voice was trembling as if he were about to cry and Damon told them both to stay in there, running down the stairs and into the scene that was playing out in the living room. Scarlett was clinging to Stefan's leg, begging him not to leave, and Katherine was on the floor, knocked out from the force of the slap. Damon gave Stefan a stern look.

"Stefan, I don't know what she did but this is no way to act in front of your daughter. What the hell is going on?" Stefan glared daggers at Damon.

"Don't be a hypocrite, you were being dick of the century last night."

"Yeah I well I never hurt my wife, did I Stefan? And I never would, _especially _not in front of our children!" Stefan rolled his eyes.

"That's the problem, Damon! Katherine and I _aren't _married, we've been dating for going on four years and we have a child together, but she doesn't want to be anything more. She can't commit to being with me forever, she's never committed to anything in her life! I tried to do something romantic for her this morning, breakfast, a massage…a fucking proposal! But no, the next thing I know I'm on one knee and she's giving me a lecture about trying to force her into something she wasn't sure she'd ever be ready for! Maybe it's not just her that can't do this Damon, maybe it's me. Maybe I'm not cut out for family life, I'm better off on my own. Better off without my whore of a girlfriend, my neurotic and painfully indecisive sister-in-law, and my arrogant ass-hole of a brother." He screamed, picking Scarlett up and holding her close to his chest.

"Don't go, Daddy." She whispered. He kissed the top of her head.

"I'd never leave you sweetheart, you're the one family member I would never be better without. You're coming with me." Stefan walked to the door but Damon pulled him back by his shoulder.

"No, Stefan. You're not going anywhere with Scarlett, this is her home and we are her family. You're not putting her needs before your own, and you never have. Hell, I take better care of her than you do, you're the idiot who always force-feeds her chilled animal blood when she's preferred human blood at around 100.9 degrees since the day she was born! Oh wait…I forget, you were mysteriously absent for that." Damon spat, causing Stefan's face to contort into a sneer. He put Scarlett down and stepped closer to Damon.

"That may be true but I was present for the birth of your little mistake, and I had _loads _of fun kissing your slut while she pushed him out." Damon punched Stefan in the face and then slammed him into the wall left of the front door. He wasted no time taking Stefan by the neck and ramming his head repeatedly into the wall until there was a large blood stain left where his head kept hitting. Scarlett began to cry louder and Elena bolted down the stairs.

"Damon stop it! You're scaring Scarlett!" Damon let go of Stefan and gave one nice head-butt that knocked him out cold.

"Did he really kiss you…when you were having Ian?" Elena sighed.

"Yes, one time after I got him to turn his emotions back on. I told him I'd keep it to myself as long as he promised to never do it again." Damon was seething.

"You should have told me, Elena. I'd have made _damn _sure he never did it again." Elena's eyes filled with tears and she looked down at her feet.

"Are you mad at me?" Damon sighed and reached out for her hand, lacing his fingers between hers.

"Am I mad? Yes, but not at you. I know you didn't tell me because you just wanted things to go back to the way they were. It's okay." He said gently, pulling her into a kiss. Damon turned around to move Stefan and take his body to his room, but he was gone, Scarlett was gone, and the door was wide open.

*Klaus's POV*

I was sitting backwards in a chair talking to Gloria, my heart racing as she was going through her grimoire for anything that could help me. Suddenly the doors of the bar swung open and I saw my old friend Stefan, carrying what looked like a mini female version of himself.

"Ah, Ripper, is that your daughter? She's cute." Stefan smiled.

"Yeah this is my Scarlett." Scarlett was terrified to be this far from home, but she smiled at the hybrid anyway. Klaus held out his arms and gave Stefan a questioning look. Stefan responded by allowing Klaus to hold her, and he bounced Scarlett for a little bit on his knee.

"She's a cutie. You're just in time for the party, I'm bringing back your dear friend Caroline." Stefan's lips curled into a surprised smile.

"You really do love her…don't you?" I didn't make eye contact but I nodded.

"More than anything." I just wanted her to be in my arms, I craved it. Caroline might not have dated me, but I'd been working on it, and I knew if given a little more time…I could show her how much I truly cared, show her the world, make her fall for me. And even if she never loved me the way I loved her, all I wanted was for her to get her life back. She never deserved to die.

"Let's do this." Stefan said enthusiastically, reassuring me that no matter what we did to hurt each other, Stefan and I would always be brothers from another mother.


	8. Anyone is Capable of Being Saved

*Klaus's POV*

"Aha! There it is…but, Klaus…this spell calls for something dark." Gloria said grimly, looking up from her grimoire at me. I shrugged.

"Does this look like the face of a man who cares?" I felt Scarlett shiver and I pulled her closer to me.

"You cold, love?" She nodded and I shrugged off my jacket, wrapping it around the young vampire as she curled up in my lap. I smiled, sensing that she wasn't afraid of me.

"Klaus, you need to sacrifice a human life in order to bring her back. It's going to be gruesome…you'll need a human drained of blood to symbolize vampirism, something of Caroline's to symbolize her essence, and the tears of someone who mourned for her to symbolize humanity. You up for that?" I grinned.

"Sounds fairly easy, actually, Stefan would you do me a favor and get the dead bartender from the bar two miles back? I don't suppose anyone has found him yet, hasn't been dead all that long. And as for something of Caroline's…try these." Stefan left to go get the body and I pulled a lacy pink pair of panties from my pocket.

"Nothing says essence like a girls knickers." Gloria shot me an accusatory look and I quickly looked away, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Look, I might have…kept these from the last time Caroline and I did the nasty, but in my defense it was right before she died and I didn't have time to return them." Scarlett turned to look at me.

"What's nasty?" I laughed and ruffled her long golden brown locks.

"Oh you know…many things are nasty, like sticking your chocolate bar in a girls peanut butter." The little one obviously didn't catch my little innuendo and gasped.

"But chocolate and peanut better are yummy together." I smirked and started to say something else but Stefan returned to the room with the bartender and shot me a horrified look.

"You are sick, you know that?"

"So I've been told…" Gloria did her best to ignore the dirty conversation and took the body from Stefan. She lay it in the middle of the floor and threw Caroline's panties on top of him. Then she turned to me and extended her hand.

"I'm going to bring forth every memory you have of her to see if you'll cry okay? When you feel like tears are coming lean over the body." I took a deep breath and nodded, excited to try and see my lovely again. I handed Scarlett to Stefan and stood over the body while Gloria encased us in a circle of flames. She took my hand and began to chant, memories beginning to flash before my eyes:

"If that's what you want…if you really believe your life has no meaning. I've thought about it myself." It killed me to see her in such a state on her birthday, a girl that beautiful deserved to be better taken care of.

"I don't wanna die." She croaked out helplessly. I lifted my wrist to her mouth.

"There you go, sweetheart."

"Come on, get to know me! I dare you." She smiled at me.

"So what do you want to talk about?"

"I want to talk about you. Your hopes, your dreams, everything you want in life."

"I get it…your father didn't love you so you assume that no one else will either. That's not how it works. You don't connect with people because you don't even try to understand them." She was angry, but in that moment she'd shown me that if I was unloved, it wasn't because I was unlovable, it was because of my lack of empathy.

"So, what did you want to show me?" Her sweet voice was filled with genuine interest in me for once, which encouraged me.

"One of my passions."

"Wait a second…did you do these?" I shuffled my feet, almost scared of her opinion.

"Yeah."

"Perhaps one day, maybe in a year or even in a century, you'll turn up at my door and allow me to show you what the world has to offer." The longing beneath her eyes, all the things she'd never admit out loud…that was all I needed to be reassured that I had hope.

"I've never really been anywhere." I smirked, hope rising in my chest that she'd let me be the one to show her the perks of eternity.

"I'll take you. Wherever you want. Rome, Paris…Tokyo?"

"You're beautiful, you're strong, full of light…I enjoy you."

"You're hurt…and that means there is a part of you that is human." My heart lurched.

"How can you possibly believe that?"

"Because I've seen it. Because I've caught myself wishing I could forget all the horrible things that you've done." I choked back my tears, knowing where this was going.

"But you can't, can you?"

"I know that you're in love with me. And anybody capable of love…is capable of being saved."

"Tyler dumped me." I tried to pull her into a hug but she pushed me away.

"Come on now, Love. At least let me comfort you. Tyler's an idiot for letting someone as precious as you go." I didn't know if it was her trying to cope with her grief, or if it had been something I said…but the next thing I new she was throwing me to the floor and undoing my shirt.

"Hold me." She whispered, and I did just that as things continued to progress and she finally made love to me.

The flashbacks ended and my tears spilled over, several drops staining the mans shirt. Gloria then began moving the ring of fire with her mind, pushing us out of it and allowing it to engulf the body, panties, and my tears in flames. Her chanting became louder as she focused all her energy on the burning objects and I heard Stefan behind me, shushing his daughter as she became frightened. I wiped my eyes on the back of my shirt sleeve and watched in awe as suddenly the flames ceased and there was nothing left in the floor but a beautiful blond. Her eyes were still closed but I could see the rise and fall of her chest and I turned to thank Gloria for her help…but she was laying motionless in the floor in front of Caroline, blood splattering her face from where she had over done it and her heart wasn't beating.

"Oops." I murmured, not wasting much time or pity on the old witch and running to Caroline as her eyes fluttered open. She shot up, a little startled and I gently caressed her hair.

"It's me, Klaus. Don't worry, you're safe." She took a deep breath as if to calm herself and then she looked around.

"Where am I? The last thing I remember was going to see Stefan after Elena…"

"Damon killed you, love. But that's okay, because I found a way to bring you back." She was quiet for a moment, studying my face intently.

"Why would you do that?" I contemplated saying it or not, knowing full well that she had probably only slept with me because she had been emotionally distraught. But I figured she needed to hear it, at least once. She needed to know that I was still very much an option.

"Because I love you."

*Back To Damon & Elena*

Katherine's eyes fluttered open and she jerked to her feet, her motherly instincts on edge.

"Where is Scarlett?!" Damon and Elena exchanged anxious glances and Elena put her hand on Katherine's shoulder.

"She's gone, Kat. Stefan fled with her." Katherine began to shake, tears filling her eyes and her hand flying over her mouth.

"He'll never bring her back to me…Oh God, Elena!" She cried, clinging to her best friend as sobs ripped through her chest. Elena petted Katherine's hair, squeezing her softly.

"I know what it's like to not know where your child it, Katherine. It's a horrible feeling, so don't you worry. Damon and I will help you find her." Damon nodded in agreement, giving his ex a sympathetic look and pulling out his cell. He dialed his brothers number, half expecting him not to answer.

"What do you want, Damon?" Damon's teeth clenched.

"Bring her back, Stefan. Katherine needs to know that she's safe." Stefan snorted.

"Oh Scar's fine, it's you that isn't safe, Damon." Damon's eyebrow rose.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Klaus just resurrected a certain somebody, and it looks to me like she's out for vengeance. What do you think will happen to your little family when she tells Sherriff Forbes what _really _happened to her? Hope you're wooden-bullet proof."

"Stefan wait!" But it was too late, he'd already hung up. Elena and Katherine both gave Damon an identical worried expression and his eyebrows furrowed.

"We have a problem."


	9. Nala Salvatore?

Damon froze when there was a knock on the door. He stepped in front of both Katherine and Elena, his protective instincts kicking into over-drive.

"Come in." He said cautiously, knowing the door was unlocked. Caroline opened the door and stood there for a moment, making harsh un-friendly eye-contact with Damon.

"So, _you're _the one that killed me. Why is that, Damon? Just so scared that I was actually right about you being the worst thing for Elena? The reason she's dead?" Damon's face went rigid but before he could reply Elena piped up.

"Caroline, I am sick of you talking to my husband like he's shit, you've always treated Damon that way so just shut up! I died because your dirty little hybrid gigolo wanted to turn my son into a walking blood bag! I don't know how you're alive right now but if you say one more bad thing about Damon I'll stake you myself." Elena yelled, her face turning red with anger and her blood bond she shared with Damon simmering defensively under her skin. Caroline's mouth fell open and she shot an incredibly hurt look at Elena.

"Some best friend you are! Have you ever thought that maybe I treat your precious little Damon the way I do because he abused me?! I was his blood bag for months, he compelled me to stay with him while I was useful and then he called me a useless shallow waste of space and kicked me to the curb the minute I became an inconvenience. Excuse me for not leaping for joy when I found out you'd crawled into bed with him and gotten knocked up!" Elena's veins began to show beneath her eyes but she didn't even have time to bare her fangs, Caroline was a step ahead of her. She entered the house and was at Elena's side in an instant, taking her by the hair and snapping her head back. Elena groaned in pain and Damon's own defensive bond lit up, a monstrous growl erupting from his chest, but before he took action Katherine took the matter into her own hands.

"GET OFF MY BESTIE BITCH!" She screamed, grabbing handfuls of Caroline's blond curls so that all three girls had their hands tangled in each others hair. Katherine pulled hard, causing Caroline to cry out, a few tears escaping.

"Let me go you over sexed cum guzzler!" She screamed, trying to kick Katherine in the stomach with her heels. Katherine moved back in time, shooting Elena an amused look as she started yanking handfuls of Caroline's hair towards her hard.

"Ow! Elena stop it!"

"I can't stop, my wedding ring is caught in your hair!" She said in distress.

"Well what's your excuse, Barbie, you're doing the same thing to me!" Katherine shouted.

"My daylight ring is lodged in your knotty curls, you mangy whore!" Katherine reached over with her free hand and ripped Caroline's shirt.

"I'll show you mange!" Katherine hissed. Caroline gasped.

"THIS WAS DESIGNER!" Despite the sexiness of any good catfight, this was becoming ridiculous and Damon's over-protective nature finally stepped in.

"I'll go get some detangle hair mist from Katherine's bathroom and a hairbrush…maybe that'll get the rings out okay? Please don't kill each other while I'm gone." He pleaded with an exasperated sigh, while Stefan and Klaus, who had just arrived, chuckled in the doorway.

"I know it was designer, love, but the half-naked look suits you." Klaus said with a wink. She glared at him and whimpered, waiting impatiently for Damon. Damon returned quickly with a spray bottle and squirted the hair with Elena's hand caught in it first. Once the tangled blond mass loosened a bit she mercilessly yanked her hand from her ex-friends hair. Caroline hissed and Elena smirked the twisted little smirk she learned from Damon, turning to him and pecking his lips.

"Thank you." He returned the smirk and captured her lips again, nibbling lovably on her bottom lip.

"Anything for you, Princess." He bent down and also kissed Elena's stomach, which he knew wouldn't be flat for much longer. The thought made him smile and he whispered "Daddy loves you" almost inaudibly, but Caroline still picked up on it with her vamp hearing. She scoffed.

"Oh that's perfect, you even slept with him _after _he killed me! I never knew you were such a heartless little vessel for Damon's leeches." Damon walked silently over to Caroline and Katherine, quickly unknotting the daylight ring from Katherine's hair and pushing Caroline to the wall hard. Katherine walked over to Stefan to demand to know where their daughter was and Damon's hands clenched Caroline's throat tight.

"Don't make me slaughter you a second time, wench." He spat murderously, that incredibly scary and dark tone in his voice yet again. He was seriously ready to shove his hand into her chest to rip her heart out, but soon he found him self flung into the living room table by Klaus.

"Keep your hands off her Damon, you're not very high on my list of people I'm fond of right now. Are you alright, sweetheart?" He asked gently, helping the blond to her feet and cupping her chin with his hand. She nodded and her breath hitched in the back of her throat, melting under his gaze.

"I-I'm fine." She leaned in without even thinking, Klaus taking the opportunity to assault her lips with his. Damon's nose wrinkled in disgust as he slowly got up from his now broken coffee table. He mumbled some profanities and cleared his throat.

"I can hear my son walking down the stairs, so I would appreciate it if you stopped playing tonsil hockey in my house." Klaus reluctantly pulled away from Caroline and sneered at Damon.

"You are in _no _place to make orders, Salvatore. How is my little blood bag? Lucky for you I no longer require him now that Stefan has allowed me to have Scarlett." Katherine gasped and slapped Stefan hard across the face.

"How dare you?!" Stefan shrugged.

"She's safe, Kat. Klaus would never take enough blood at once to hurt her…in fact, I think he sort of likes her." Klaus smiled.

"I do fancy the little mini-Stefan, she's quite pleasant. I'm having only the best of my hybrids watch her for us while we're here." Ian had soon made his way to the bottom of the stairs.

"Scar is gone?" Klaus started to reply but Damon interrupted.

"She's gone for a little vacation with your Uncle, don't worry about her." He said soothingly, picking him up and kissing the top of his head. Klaus cocked his head to the side in amusement.

"So there _are_ actually people you talk to with respect, who'd have thought." Damon glared icily at Klaus and went to stand beside his wife, the look on his face _daring_ anyone to lay a finger on his family.

"Listen up, all of you. This isn't the last the Salvatore family will be seeing of us. Let me make myself clear, we came here as a warning. I have set some new rules in Mystic Falls and if they are disobeyed I will rip each and every one of your hearts out, including the bun in the oven's." Klaus spat eerily.

"If any of you so much as breathe Caroline's precious air ever again it will be the last bloody thing you ever do, and we are keeping Scarlett. Come looking for her and she's dead. Do you understand me? Especially _you_, Katerina." Klaus grabbed Caroline's hand and began walking her to the door until she turned around, flipping her bouncy blond curls over her shoulder.

"And by the way, be expecting a call from my mother, Damon. She's not very happy with everything that you little parasite-producing daughter killers have been up to the last couple of months. See ya." She finished with a wink, resuming her walk to the door with Klaus and Stefan.

"That is the last time she gets away with calling my children parasites." Damon growled, starting after them but Elena held him back.

"Not tonight, Damon. We don't want to start a war with the Mikaelson's right now, not with Scarlett's life on the line." She said as the evil trio disappeared. Katherine looked distraught and Elena went to wrap her arms around her.

"We'll think of something, Kat. Do you want me to call Bonnie? Who knows what she has up her sleeve, she's been getting a lot stronger…" Katherine shook her head.

"I don't deserve her back…I'm the worst mother in the world, starting back to my first child. Maybe she's better off without me in her life." Katherine's voice was shaking and Elena knew she was about to break down. She pulled her Doppelganger close to her and rubbed her back gently.

"Let it out, it's okay to cry." She lost it on Elena's shoulder and Ian reached out to pull on her shirt.

"It's okay, Aunt Katherine. Don't be sad." She smiled at the sound of his sweet little voice and turned to face him.

"I love you, Ian. Don't ever forget that."

"I love you too…and so does Mommy and Daddy and Nala." Katherine laughed and stroked the side of his face.

"Who is Nala?" Ian grinned.

"My mommy is having a baby…I'm going to call her Nala, you know, like the Lion King?" Damon cuddled his son and chuckled deeply.

"What if it's not a girl?" He thought for a moment and then shook his little head rather adamantly.

"It will be." Elena patted her mid-section and smiled.

"I wouldn't mind a daughter." Damon's eyes sparkled when he looked over at her and softly pulled her into a deep kiss.

"That would be perfect."


	10. Sweet Humanity

Four months passed and still no word from Sherriff Forbes, causing Damon to become highly suspicious. Elena was supposed to get an ultrasound that day, so he couldn't look into it himself…or more like he refused too. Damon was a little insecure about missing Ian's birth and was determined to be with Elena through every second of this pregnancy. While Elena was getting ready he whipped out his cell phone and dialed Alaric's number.

"Hey Papa Saltzman, I need you to do something for me." Damon could practically hear Alaric roll his eyes through the phone.

"Not a good way to start out asking for a favor, Damon." Not it was his turn to roll his eyes.

"Please, Ric? It involves Elena." Alaric sighed.

"What is it?"

"She has an ultrasound appointment so I'm going to be busy today, but I need somebody to check out the Forbes situation. Caroline warned me months ago that her mother was coming our way but nothing has happened. I know I should be glad, but at the same time, Liz is my friend and I'm a little worried." Alaric was quiet for a moment, thoughtful, and his answer surprised Damon.

"No." Damon was taken back and he was at a major loss for words for a moment.

"What do you mean, no?!" He asked, half-offended.

"I mean no. I want to be there for the first ultrasound too…that's kind of my grandchild, Damon." Alaric flinched at his own words, knowing he wasn't really old enough to have one, or at least he hoped he wasn't.

"But I will ask Jeremy for you…I'm sure he and Adriana wouldn't mind paying Liz a visit." Damon chewed on his lip for a moment, pondering it.

"Absolutely not, that's my brother-in-law. He's only a kid, what if he gets hurt?"

"He's nineteen now, he can take care of himself. Besides, I told you Adriana

would more than likely go with him now that they're engaged, and she and Bonnie are the most powerful witches of our century. She is capable of protecting him." Damon thought it over briefly and finally gave in.

"Okay, call Little Gilbert and get back to me the appointment is in an hour." He paused before adding "I still can't believe he switched Bennett's, I seriously thought he'd end up with Bonnie in the end." Alaric chuckled.

"Well everyone thought there for a while that Elena would end up with Stefan, but she switched Salvatore's, it's wise. If you fall in love with two people choose the second, because if you fell for the second you never truly loved the first." Damon smiled.

"So if it had come down to Isobel or Jenna…you'd have picked Jenna?" Alaric was quiet for a moment and Damon instantly regretted bringing that up.

"In a heart beat." He admitted softly. Damon was suddenly uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, Ric. I shouldn't have…look, just call me back after you talk to Little Gil- I mean Little Saltzman." Alaric smiled.

"I will." Damon hung up the phone with a heavy sigh and sought out his wife. She was in their bedroom, trying her hardest to pull a teal dress over her perfectly round belly that was finally showing. He chuckled and helped her gently tug the dress over it.

"Elena you need maternity clothes bad…she's going to need room to breathe, Princess." Elena smiled.

"You are set on it being a girl too? You and Ian are going to be awfully surprised when it's a boy." Damon raised his eyebrow.

"You think it will be a boy?" Elena shrugged.

"I just mean that I don't know. I'm going to laugh if you go all out picking out the prettiest girl names and we end up having an Edward." Damon almost gagged.

"Edward? That better be some sort of vampire joke because we are _not _naming our son after some sparkling queer from those stupid books Caroline reads." He scoffed. Elena giggled and rolled her eyes.

"Not after him, after Edward Scissorhands. That's the first movie you and I ever watched together." Damon's heart melted.

"You are so cute." He was about to say something else but his cell rang.

"Right on time, Ric, it's almost time to go." He said as he took Elena's hand and started to walk her out to his car.

"Jeremy and Adriana are on their way to the Forbes place right now, I'll meet you at Meredith's office." Damon agreed and hung up, opening Elena's door for her.

Meanwhile, while Alaric, Damon, and Elena were headed to the appointment, Jeremy and Adriana reached Caroline and Liz's house. The front door was slightly ajar when they got there and the couple exchanged anxious looks with one another before cautiously nudging the door open. No one seemed to be around and Adriana shivered.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Jere." He smiled reassuringly at her and kissed her temple.

"We'll be fine. If anything is in this house it won't be hiding in plain sight like this. We need to head to the cellar." Her grip on his hand tightened at the new plan and Jeremy beamed, he loved feeling like he could protect her. They headed towards the back of the house and descended some stairs. They led into a dark dusty cellar that the Forbes family had been using for generations. There Liz was, strapped to a chair in the middle of her cellar being tortured by a face they hadn't seen in a very long time. Kol was interrogating her, burning holes in her flesh with a cigarette every time she failed to comply.

"What are you doing here?" Kol flashed a dashing smile.

"I could ask you the same thing, mate." Then his gaze fell upon Adriana and he smirked.

"Beautiful as ever, Bonnie." Adriana rolled her eyes.

"I'm her sister." Kol's smile faltered and he sneered.

"How horrid. I was expecting the powerful sister." Jeremy snarled at Kol and took a step forward.

"What are you doing to Sheriff Forbes?" He hissed.

"I've been keeping the little bitch down here for months now…feeding her scraps of bread and the nasty kool-aid shit she tries to feed my brother's girl when she's here. See, I came back to Mystic Falls for something I'd left behind and then I caught wind of Liz's little plan to shoot Damon dead with those wooden-bullets of hers and decided to put an end to it." Jeremy shook his head, confused.

"Why do you care about what happens to Damon? Especially when you're brother and Caroline are the ones that sent Liz after him?" Kol smiled his dark, wicked little smile and chuckled slightly.

"I don't, but the…thing I came back for does, and not only that, but a little birdie told me that Niklaus raised Caroline from the dead. I need to know how he accomplished that, and I know Caroline told this pathetic sac of shit here. I must say she's a strong woman though, I didn't expect to be down here this long." He sounded amused and Jeremy and Adriana felt a little at ease now, knowing this was in the benefit of their family.

"Well now that we're on the same side, you mind telling us why you need to know and what you came back for?" Kol grinned wider.

"For now…that is my little secret."

Back at the doctors office things were going smoothly, the ultrasound gave a nice little picture of the baby but they couldn't yet tell the gender. Alaric and Damon both had tears in their eyes as they looked at the tiny little baby on the screen.

"If it's a girl…can we name her Rose?" He asked quietly. Elena grinned.

"I love that…Violet Rose, and we can call her Rose?" She wondered out loud.

"That's beautiful baby." He said with a sniffle, kissing the top of her head.

"Violet Rose or Grayson Edward." Damon said proudly, caressing her stomach lovingly. Elena gasped.

"G-Grayson?" Damon nodded.

"After your father." She sat up, taking Damon's face in her hands and pulling his lips to hers.

"I love you so much." He smiled adoringly at her.

"I love you too." Alaric started laughing a little.

"Ian is going to be mad if it's a girl and you don't name her Nala." Damon and Elena simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"He can call her that if he wants too, but I'm not naming my daughter after the girl in the Lion King." Damon said with a snort, shaking his head and beaming at the thought of his son cuddling his new sister and calling her Nala. It would be so cute. Damon looked from his beautiful Elena and their unborn baby to his best friend/father-in-law and then thought of his son and sister-in-law back home. His family was a little dysfunctional but it was one thousand shades of perfect and he never in is one hundred and seventy five years would have guessed that life would ever taste this sweet or be this…human.


	11. Kittens And Mysterious Plans

Jeremy and Adriana watched in horror as Kol continued to burn Sherriff Forbes. He finally sighed.

"This isn't even fun anymore, maybe I should just end your pathetic little life and find a more suited person to torture…like maybe your daughter." He flashed his most arrogant smile and walked towards the cellar door.

"You can't torture it out of Caroline. Klaus would kill you." Kol chuckled darkly.

"He'd be mad at me love, but that would be all. Klaus can threaten and threaten all he wants, but we're family. The worst he would do is dagger me for another ninety years." Liz sighed, a sob softly escaping her lips.

"Fine…I'll tell you." Kol's grin widened.

"About bloody time. How do you resurrect people from the dead?" She sighed.

"You'll need a human drained of blood to symbolize vampirism, something of the persons to symbolize their essence, and the tears of someone who mourned for them to symbolize humanity." Kol clenched his jaw together.

"That's to bring a vampire to life, I need to bring back a witch." Jeremy gasped.

"Please tell me you aren't bringing back Esther…" Kol almost looked offended.

"My mum? Why would I bring back the witch that tried to kill my entire family? I'm not an idiot, Gilbert. No, I have a better plan in mind, something that would even benefit your little girlfriend over there." Kol looked pleased with himself, thinking for a moment about what to do next.

"Niklaus is not going to be happy with me for this…but let's consider it payback for tugging me around for over half a century in a box." He bit down on his wrist and forced his blood into Liz's mouth. Jeremy screamed no and tried to tug Kol's arm away.

"Let go of me before I hurt you. Just be glad I'm not killing her forever. This way we all win, if she's a vampire she won't be so willing to shoot Salvatore down with that special gun of hers, Caroline will never lose her mother, it's full proof."

"She _will _lose her mother, Liz would never complete the transition! And you never fully answered me, why are you going to such lengths to protect Damon? With her as a vampire you're hurting Damon's chances of winning a fight against her, not protecting him!" Kol shrugged.

"Liz will complete the transition if I compel her too. Only reason I haven't so far is that I was having _way _to much fun torturing the living hell out of her.

She will never be a bother to the Salvatore family so long as I'm still alive to keep the compulsion going. To answer your question, I told you before, someone I fancy very much cares deeply for Elena, and therefore Damon by extension. She's lost enough, she doesn't need to lose them." Kol's words were so human in that moment that it completely caught Jeremy off guard. Neither him nor Adriana really knew what to think.

"Who in the word do you care that much about?" Kol smiled fondly.

"I think you'll find out soon enough."

Back at the boarding house, Damon, Elena, and Alaric, were just getting home. Elena happily hung the sonogram they'd been given on the refrigerator and Damon pulled out his phone to text Jeremy.

"Where are you?" Jeremy's response was vague.

"With Kol. Tell you about it later." Damon nearly dropped his phone, calling Elena over and letting her read the message.

"Why the hell are Jeremy and Adriana with _Kol_. Don't they know that he's dangerous?!" Damon shot her a reassuring smile.

"I'm sure there okay, if they weren't Jere would have told me." Elena took a deep breath and nodded.

"I guess your right." Damon gave her the smolder eyes and gently brushed her hair out of her face.

"Of course I am, I'm me. Now come on, let's take Ian out. I'm sure Katherine is tired of having to play cops and robbers with him. He's made her sit in the laundry basket, which is supposed to be jail, about nine times now." Elena smiled and took Damon's hand, calling for Ian. He ran up to the couple and Damon picked him up with his free arm, letting Ian wrap his legs around him and hold on to his neck.

"Where are we going, Daddy?"

"For ice cream." Ian wrinkled his nose.

"But I'm hungry…do they sell blood at the ice cream store?" Damon chuckled.

"People don't sell blood, son. We're a predatory species, we have to hunt for it. But for now this will do." He said as he grabbed Ian's sippy-cup off the counter, pouring in a blood bag and sealing the lid back on.

"Better?" Ian nodded happily.

"Now can we have ice cream?" Damon kissed his temple and hugged him closer to him.

"Of course we can." Ian tried his hardest to contort his facial muscles into Damon's signature smirk, failing miserably but looking adorable all the same. Elena giggled.

"He wants to be like you so bad." Damon didn't answer but squeezed Elena's hand and sported a large, happy, radiant smile. They walked slowly to the ice cream parlor at human speed, enjoying the autumn leaves and the cool Virginia breeze. Ian was jabbering on excitedly about seeing a vampire on Sesame Street, who had taught him the number four that morning. Damon and Elena were happy he'd found a children's show he related too. They were careful with what they let Ian watch, not wanting him to feel like a minority. To Ian, everybody was a vampire, and the people on TV that weren't ones were very strange to him. He only really watched Sesame Street, Adventure Time, and movies like The Little Vampire. It was kind of their way of getting him to keep their secret, if he thought everyone was the same as him he was less likely to go around bragging to other children about not being human.

When they reached the ice cream parlor, Ian decided he wanted chocolate. That was the one human food that both he and Scarlett were both absolutely addicted too. Elena mumbled something to Damon about how cute that was and started to pay for the small cone when Ian started squealing.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Damon raised his eyebrow in amusement at his son, who was bouncing up and down eagerly.

"There is a pet store!" He yelled, pointing a little finger across the street. He looked up at him from underneath his eyelashes with his baby blue eyes and stuck out his bottom lip.

"Can I have a bunny?" Damon sighed and ruffled his hair.

"Sebastian, your Uncle Stefan would eat it within a week." Ian pouted.

"But Daaaaaddy….Uncle Stefan is gone on vacation with that blond lady, we can get one now!" Damon's lips twitched into a small smile he'd been trying to hold back.

"But when he comes back it'll be the first thing he sucks dry." Elena glared at him.

"Damon, there are better ways to phrase certain…" Damon cut her off, wondering what she'd have said if she'd been present for the "if you accidentally kill people" speech he'd given Ian the day they were taken by Klaus.

"How about a kitten instead?" Ian's entire face lit up.

"Really?! You mean it?" Damon gave him his sincerest smile.

"Let's go pick one out." Elena handed Ian his ice cream and walked with them to the pet store. She grinned lovingly at her husband and whispered "I thought you hated cats." He leaned over and kissed her cheek gently while whispering "I hate anything that will piss on my Persian rug, but I love my boy more." She tugged him back a little bit, kissing him thoroughly while they were still walking.

"I love you." She released him and he shot her her favorite lopsided grin.

"I love you too, Princess."

Meanwhile, Kol had long turned Liz and compelled her to not only transition, but to never bother the Salvatore's again. Now he had left the Forbes cellar and was headed to the only place in Mystic Falls where he wanted to be…the place he could find what he'd left behind. He knocked on the door several times, starting to fear she wasn't home. He waited a little bit and then sighed, turning to leave. Suddenly the door creaked open and he swung around in excitement. There she was, completely wet and in nothing but a towel.

"I'm so sorry I was in the shower when I heard you knocking and I know this isn't decent but…" She stopped cold when she noticed exactly who was standing on her porch. He smirked, his eyes alight with mischief and a hint of adoration.

"Good evening, Bonnie."


	12. Moonstones And Madness

Kol looked Bonnie up and down with a smirk and she blushed deeply.

"Get the hell out of here, Kol. I don't wanna see you."

"Aw come on, Bonnie. I know we've have it rough in the past, but I want to try again, I can't get you out of my mind. I am not a good man, nor am I a patient one, but I will wait for you to feel it again. I will make you feel the very emotions you felt when I took your virginity in a hallway closet back at the Mansion." Anger and embarrassment flashed across Bonnie's features.

"Go die, Kol." She hissed as she slammed the door in his face.

"Be reasonable sweetheart, you knew the moment you touched my hand at my mother's ball that it was real, that I was supposed to be your mate. If you hadn't felt it you wouldn't have let me take something that precious from you the very night we met." He called through the door. Bonnie's breathing intensified and she slid down the side of her door, tears rolling down her face. She pulled her knees to her chest and sobbed loudly, hoping he heard her and felt guilty. She didn't want to remember the things he had made her feel that night. The way he'd swept her off her feet, flirted and danced with her all night until finally he led her to that dark little closet on the second floor. He made her feel special, like she was the most beautiful girl in the world to have caught the interest of someone like Kol. They made love, he gave her his number, promised to pick her up the following night and take her someplace nice. But that was it…when he left the ball that night she never saw him again.

Outside Kol had done the same thing, slid down until he was sitting with his back against the door. Had they not been separated by it their backs would have been touching. He listened to her shallow breathing and her heavy weeps, his heart breaking. He had always been the player, the heartbreaker, it's what he did. He had never planned on staying with the young little witch he'd picked to be his toy for the night, but when their hands brushed as he'd handed her a glass of Champaign he felt something radiate through him. Something warm and full of light. Knowing she was a witch he figured she'd used her hand to read him, and the look in her eyes had suggested that she

liked what she'd found. Kol had never felt anything like that, and the more they talked that night the more genuine interest and affection for her grew. For once in his life Kol Mikaelson hadn't ran to play with a girls emotions, he'd ran because she had awakened his.

Back at pet store Ian was staring wide-eyed at all the little kittens in a crate in the very back of the store, just passed the aisle with all the adult cats. Damon kneeled down to Ian's level and gently put his hand on his shoulder.

"Which one do you want?" Ian's eyes lingered on each and every one of them, seeming to take in every detail. There were two totally black kittens with bright green eyes, three orange kittens with eyes that were a yellowish color, and then there was one tiny white kitten with blue eyes, the runt of the litter, playing by herself in the corner while the other kittens pounced on one another. Ian's entire face lit up and he gently picked the white one up in his small hands.

"I like this one." Damon looked genuinely surprised, expecting him to pick a black one.

"Are you sure?" He nodded eagerly.

"I like it when Mommy tells me the story about you and her making snow angels together…this one looks like snow." Both Damon and Elena grinned at each other and Elena tenderly began running her fingers through Damon's hair.

"What are you going to call her?" He smiled up at his parents and cuddled the kitten to his chest.

"Snow Angel. But we can just call her Angel." He looked so proud of himself and Damon kissed his forehead in adoration before standing up straight.

"Well I'll go pay for her and you and Mommy can go get some kitty litter and stuff, okay?" Ian nodded and handed Angel to Damon, taking Elena's hand and allowing her to lead the way to get the supplies they needed.

In Chicago, Klaus was taking a very small blood sample from Scarlett.

"Uncle Klaus…why do you take my blood everyday? Am I sick?" She wondered, not the least bit afraid and swinging her legs off the side of the table while he drew the blood.

"Hold still, Sweetheart, I don't want to hurt you. I take your blood so I can make more people like me. It's awful lonely being the only hybrid, you know." She tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

"Then why don't you turn me into a hybrid? I wouldn't mind it." Klaus smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you." He chuckled for a moment and then continued.

"I can't do that, darling. If I turn you, then I have to get my blood source from your cousin and he isn't nearly as willing as you are. The kid is definitely Damon's son…he has some fight in him. Besides, I've never tired to turn a vampire into a hybrid…pretty sure it would kill you, and I don't want that." Scarlett pondered it for a minute and then shrugged.

"You never know…I'm a pureblood, maybe I'm the exception to that rule." He shot her a wolfish grin and gently tussled her golden brown locks with his hand.

"Thanks for the offer, but it's not a risk I'm willing to take. I care about you, Scar." She giggled and wrapped her arms around Klaus's neck. Klaus smiled over Scarlett's shoulder at the blond who was now watching them.

"You would be such a good father." He shook his head.

"I'd be a horrible father and you know it. But uncle is something I can swing." Caroline rolled her eyes and strutted up to her hybrid mate, who had recently imprinted on her. She kissed his lips gently and held out her arms for Scarlett. The young vampire jumped to the blonde, squealing as she spun her around.

"How are you liking being part of Pack Mikaelson?"

"I love you and Uncle Klaus, and the hybrids are all really nice to me, but I do kind of miss my mommy." Caroline scoffed.

"Why miss the world class vampire slut when you have us?" Klaus stifled a laugh and gave Caroline a semi-stern look.

"Come now Sweetness, be politer about it around Katerina's daughter." Caroline stuck her tongue out at him while Scarlett shrugged.

"I think Daddy misses her too." Stefan walked through the door, shaking his head at his daughter and softly petting her curls.

"No sweetie, I don't. I'm over her, and you should forget about her too. I can give you a better life without her." Scarlett's eyes filled with tears and her expression asked so many questions.

"But what about Uncle Damon and Aunt Elena?" Stefan turned around to look for the girl he'd compelled earlier to stick around for dinner and answered her as he called the girls name.

"Klaus and Caroline are your family now."

At the boarding house Katherine was getting restless. It had been so long since Stefan had disappeared with Scarlett that she was about to go mad. Nobody was giving her answers, Damon and Elena were too busy with their own lives to do anything, Alaric was helping Jeremy and Adriana plan their wedding, and nobody had seen Bonnie in weeks. At the end of her rope, she did the only thing she knew to do. She asked for help from the only other supernatural friend she had out there. Mason Lockwood. Damon had thought he'd killed him when he ripped his heart from his chest, but Katherine had been so attached to him that she'd had a witch cast a protection spell on him. He'd skipped town after his "murder" wanting to be as far from Damon and that damn moonstone as possible.

"Mason, it's me. I need a favor." He was quiet on the other line for a little bit, as if thinking hard about hoe he'd respond.

"Katherine…where have you been? You used to call and check on me everyday up until about three years ago…"

"It's a long story, a lot has happened these last three years. I'll tell you all about it if you'll come to see me at the Salvatore Boarding House. Damon is out for the day and Stefan skipped town, plus the moonstone is long gone. You're safe." He sighed into the receiver, but smiled.

"I've really missed you, Kat. I'll be there soon." A school-girl like smile made its way onto Katherine's lips. It'd been so long since she'd seen her little wolf, this was going to be fun.


	13. Blood Bonds

Kol stayed with his back against Bonnie's door for a long time until he eventually heard her get up and run to her bedroom. He sighed, running his hand through his naturally fluffy brown hair. He'd really screwed up when he left and he'd known it…but he hadn't expected it to be this bad. Kol walked home, knowing he'd be alone since Klaus was gone to Chicago and Elijah had been daggered. Finn was dead and god only knew where Rebekah was. He was grateful though, he needed to be alone with his thoughts. He'd spent so long wishing he could come back, wishing he'd never left. He was too strong to admit it, but leaving her had been painful. He wanted to get to know her, to be there for her and comfort her, but he'd blown it because he'd been to much a coward to pursue her. His instant feelings for her had frightened him, especially when he knew she'd be far less than safe with him around. He needed now more than ever to find out how to raise a witch from the dead…it was the only thing he could do to make Bonnie forgive him. He kicked his front door hard with his foot, not bothering with the spare key he had in his pocket, he wasn't in the mood for petty human things. But alas, no one in Mystic Falls ever seemed to get what they wanted and there stood the most petty human thing of all…Rebekah.

"Ah, Sister. Don't you have a date with your little human boy toy tonight or something, I am not in the mood." Rebekah pouted, looking down at her feet with a sad sigh.

"No…Matt dumped me. He said he needed space, do you think buying him that Ferrari for his birthday was too much?" Kol rolled his eyes.

"It wouldn't have lasted anyway, Bekah, you're a vampire and he's a human. Eventually he would have died on you and you would spend the rest of eternity heartbroken and alone, is that what you want?" He spat harshly, causing Rebekah to flinch.

"It worked out for Damon and Elena…"

"Yeah well Damon forced blood down his girl's throat and somehow he still ended up the poster child for perfect vampire marriages." He grumbled, not really caring if he had hurt his sister's feelings, which he could tell he had. He had warned her that he wasn't in the mood. Rebekah sighed deeply and grabbed her Louis Vuitton bag, heading toward the door.

"One day you'll have to stop shutting people out, Kol. Or it's you that will end up spending eternity heartbroken and alone." She disappeared to join her other brother in Chicago and Kol was left to himself to sulk.

Meanwhile, Mason was just now arriving at the boarding house. He combed his dark hair in the side view mirror and took a deep breath. He was so nervous to finally see Katherine again. Katherine heard the door bell and she too had to take a quick deep breath. She'd always been fond of Mason and kind of missed their old relationship. She checked her long brunette curls in her compact and then practically skipped to the door, feeling considerably less miserable than she had when she'd woken up that morning. She opened the door and smiled, but her smile faltered when Mason suddenly dropped to his knees, never breaking eye contact with her. To Mason it felt like his entire world had just shifted and the old relationship he'd had with Katherine felt like a little school crush. Everything about her that had been beautiful before was suddenly a thousand times more. All his senses were screaming at him to touch her, to protect her, to love her. Katherine felt the same, like in that moment the only thing giving her life and a reason to be was Mason Lockwood.

"What just happened?" She whispered breathlessly, terrified that she suddenly felt like the two of them had been lovers forever. He slowly rose to his feet, reaching out to gently touch her hand. Sparks ignited through their bodies, similar to the feeling Damon and Elena got from their sacred bond. The two shivered and he shook his head.

"I think I just imprinted on you." Katherine shot him a confused look.

"What the hell is imprinting?" He smiled at her and touched her hand again.

"You feel that? The warmth? The gravitational pull that we suddenly have on each other? That happens when a werewolf finds his soul mate. We won't ever be able to leave one another for very long now, we'll be together forever." This was too much for Katherine.

"Mason that's ridiculous, it only happens in those stupid Twilight books." He scoffed.

"Well I'm the werewolf, dearest, it _does_ happen, just not like it does in those books. In Twilight it's like love at first sight and all that crap, but real life imprinting is so much different. It gives the two time to mature and grow feelings for one another, find out who they are. If you have feelings for a girl and you imprint, she's your mate. If you start to fall for a girl and you don't imprint…you kind of start to feel this need to leave her, no matter how attracted you are to her. It isn't destined." Katherine was breathing a little harder now, having not anticipated something like this when Mason showed up.

"B-But I can't be your mate, Mason. I have all these feelings and urges that you described but…my soul mate is Stefan. We blood shared, we have a blood bond." Mason cocked his head to the side.

"Then how could I have…" Katherine shrugged.

"I don't know…let me call Bonnie, maybe she has something in her grimoire that can help us." She dialed her number and it rang for about five minutes before reaching voicemail. She tried again, same thing. She hadn't really wanted to call Adriana in the midst of all her wedding planning, but she was desperate.

"Adriana could you come over just for a few minutes? I really need you're help." Adriana left a section of the planning to Jeremy and Alaric, against her better judgment, and went to the boarding house with her grimoire in tow.

"What seems to be the issue?" Katherine sighed.

"Mason seems to have imprinted on me…but I have that blood bond with Stefan, Stefan's my soul mate." Adriana flipped through the pages of her spell book hurriedly, wanting to get home fast.

"There. This page here states that if a vampire's blood bond was a mistake, which does sometime happen, though rarely, it can indeed be broken by an imprint from a werewolf, due to the werewolf mating process to be stronger and deeper. The only time this will not occur is if the two bonded vampires were _truly _beyond a shadow of a doubt meant to be and share the bond that Damon and Elena do. In other words…Katherine, you can never have more children by Stefan…he's no longer your soul mate. You belong to Mason." Katherine's heart nearly stopped.

Back at the pet store, the three Salvatore's were heading home with the new addition to the family. Damon and Elena's finger's were laced together and they walked as close as possible, feeling romantic. Ian was at their side skipping happily along with his new kitty. Damon stroked Elena's hand with his thumb and closed his eyes, feeling like they had been together in 1864 instead of him and Katherine, and that they were living a human life together with their son. That's honestly what it felt like when they were alone, away from the craziness, just the three of them. Damon felt like this is how it should have been.

"Heaven's gift to me…just the way you are. A new aged child, always in my heart. There's so much in life for you to see and so much to be, you are heaven's gift to me." He caught himself singing it very softly, allowing all of his vampire self slip away. This was the Damon from 148 years ago, the one gently singing to his wife and children the same lullaby that his mother sang to him. Elena rested her head on his shoulder, smiling happily and wishing she could have met him back in 1864...and had Ian with him then. She could feel that was what Damon wanted, and she wanted that for him. It was then that she decided she'd start to do little things for Damon to make it feel like they lived back in his time. A large grin grew on her face as she formed a plan…Damon was going to love it. The couple was pulled from their thoughts

when they reached their house and saw an unfamiliar car. They exchanged nervous glances before cautiously opening the door to find Katherine, Adriana, and none other than the thought-to-be-dead Mason Lockwood on their couch. Damon's jaw tightened.

"When I kill people I expect them to stay dead." Was the last thing Damon murmured before Mason lunged towards the door.


	14. Trip Down Memory Lane

July 12th, 1864

My dearest Katherine,

The streets of Washington are deaf with the booms of cannons and firing muskets. This war is getting intense and I can't wait to leave for home…in fact I'm thinking of returning to you early. It's not that I can't handle the battle, I'm man enough for that, I'm sure. However I am too much a gentleman to leave my lady to fend for herself in such dangerous times. The Shenandoah Valley has now been uncovered, but that damned General Hunter fled in the opposite direction than we were expecting, putting Virginia in great danger. I want you to stay inside at all times, understand? If the Yanks march into Mystic Falls I trust that Stefan and Father will be enough to hold down the fort until I return. For now I must go, General Lee has given orders that I probably shouldn't discuss, just know that I'll keep myself safe for you. I hope to be back soon, my love.

Truly Yours,

Damon

I gently stuck the letter in an envelope and had it mailed out, returning to my post. I found several other soldiers outside the base, passing around a flask and singing a tune that had recently become popular with the Rebels. I sat down and joined them, smirking when the flask was passed to me. I loved the taste of alcohol, it soothed my ravaged nerves and I contently joined in the singing.

"From the bright sunny south to the war I was sent, the memories of my boyhood I scarcely have spent. From its cool shady forests and deep flowing streams, ever fond in my memory and sweet in my dreams."

Damon suddenly shot up, realizing he'd been dreaming. He still heard the song, but it was accompanied by music and he wasn't in 1864 anymore. Damon got out of bed, confused. Where was this coming from, and when did he get in bed? The last thing he remembered was Mason pouncing at him. He started to walk toward his bedroom door when he noticed that his old Confederate uniform was lying on a chair in the corner of the room. Elena had done what he'd done to her so many times, having taped a message to it.

"Put it on and come in the kitchen." He put on the nostalgic pieces of clothing, having severe flashbacks as the old him was suddenly staring at him in his mirror. He followed the familiar tune to his kitchen to find his wife wearing something that stopped him dead in his tracks. She was wearing his mother's yellow and white checkered Wrapper, cooking Batter Cakes of all things, no doubt getting the recipe from his mother's old cookbook. He noticed the song was playing from a small CD player she had set up on the counter.

"I didn't know Alison Krauss redid this song…" Was all he could manage to choke out. Elena turned happily to look at him, her free hand resting on her small baby bump.

"You look adorable in your uniform." She said coyly, sticking her spoon in the batter and walking over to run her finger down his chest. He shivered and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Did you do all this for me?" She beamed.

"Of course, Mr. Salvatore. I could feel the emotions radiating through you yesterday, through our bond. You miss it, so I thought I'd bring it back for a little bit. Do…you like it?" She asked shyly, hoping he wasn't mad that she'd gotten all this stuff from the basement. Damon grinned lovingly and pulled her into a rough little kiss that seemed to linger on her lips.

"I love it…and I love you so much." She giggled and ran her fingers through his hair as he kissed her again and spun her around like a princess.

"So would the perfect and utterly sweet Mrs. Salvatore like to explain to her husband how he was being pounced by a werewolf one minute and in his bed the next?" She frowned slightly, sighing and turning to finish up with the Batter Cake.

"You don't remember?" Damon shook his head in concern.

"No…" She scooped the cakes on some plates and then gently cupped Damon's chin with her hand.

"He bit you, Damon. I don't think he really meant to take it that far considering he kept apologizing, but he did. Thank god Rebekah dropped by on her way to Chicago to tell me she'd see what she could do about Scarlett. She fed you some of Klaus's blood that he'd given her for her protection in case Tyler were to lash out at his family after finding out about him and Caroline. I watched you sleep most the night, making sure you completely healed. Do you feel okay?" Damon slowly nodded, trying to wrap his head around all the new information.

"Where is the mutt now?" Elena shrugged.

"He and Katherine went out." Damon shook it off and decided he had better things to do with his time. He smirked at Elena and turned the CD player up and extending his hand.

"May I?" She nodded, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"You may." He gently pulled her close to him and placed one hand on her waist and the other out to the side, entwined in hers. They waltzed around the kitchen in a love-struck daze, gazing at one another in marital bliss.

"Said my kind-hearted father as he took my hand  
As you go in defense of our dear native land,  
Son, be brave but show mercy whenever you can.  
Our hearts will be with you, 'til you return again." Damon sang softly, twirling her around. The couple danced and laughed until they heard the pitter patter of little feet coming down the stairs. Ian was dressed in navy trousers with suspenders that were unbuckled and a puffy white shirt. Elena laughed.

"You need help with the suspenders?" Ian nodded and she started to kneel to help him but Damon stopped her, a smirk growing on his glowing face.

"Allow me, Ma'am. I can help my boy." Elena rolled her eyes playfully and stepped back, allowing her southern gentleman to fasten their son's clothes properly and ruffle his hair gently with his hand.

"Daddy, did you used to dress like this?" Damon nodded eagerly and handed him a piece of Elena's batter cake to eat.

"I sure did, you look just like me from when I was little." This seemed to please Ian and he skipped to the breakfast table and climbed into a chair, happily biting into his cake. Damon then got a blood bag and heated it to 98.6 and poured it in a glass for him.

While the Salvatore's were having a very traditional breakfast at the boarding house, Katherine and Mason were out for a walk.

"You can't just go around biting my family members, Mason. I can't lose any of them." He sighed.

"I know Kat, but I was just so angry…he killed me!" She gently rubbed his back and sighed.

"I know, but he's my family. You have to learn to life with him if we're going to make this work." He rolled his eyes.

"You're my mate, Katherine. I shouldn't have to live with people that aren't even directly related to you, I should get to take you home to my house…where I can give you the best life I can." She sighed deeply.

"But Scarlett _is _directly related to them, and she loves Damon so much, it would be hard on her to move. Plus she hasn't even met you Mason…how do you think she'll take moving in with a stranger?" Mason shrugged.

"I don't know but she needs to get out of this town, away from all the death and away from her crazy father. I would be better for her than him…and maybe one day we could give her half brothers and sisters."

"Slow your role, Mason, I can't even keep up with _one _child right now. I'm a horrible mother." She mumbled, looking down at her feet dejectedly. A few tears escaped and Mason gently brushed them away with his thumb.

"Hey, listen to me; you are NOT a bad mother. I can tell how much you love her and how worried you are about her. I can see it in your eyes. I promise you, I will do everything in my power to get her back to you and then the three of us can go back to my house in Florida and you'll be safe." Katherine cuddled into his side and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you." She whispered.

Back at the house, Damon had just brought out his musket and was showing Ian how to clean it. He was polishing the shiny metal when Ian piped up excitedly.

"I want to be a Conference Soldier when I'm big and strong like you." Damon's eyes sparkled with pure love for his son and he winked at him.

"I think you meant Confederate, buddy, and I don't know about that but you can certainly be an American Soldier…unless we secede again, which I've heard rumors of." Ian was hanging on Damon's every word, taking it all in. He tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"What does secede mean?" Damon was about to answer when they heard the door swing open. Katherine and Mason were home and Katherine was standing with her mouth open.

"I haven't seen you in that uniform in a very long time." Despite it all being water under the bridge now, Damon couldn't help the bitter look that crossed his face. He threw his arm over Elena's shoulder and pulled her into him.

"Well I'm certainly not wearing it for you anymore, Miss Katherine." A brief look of hurt flashed across Katherine's features but it was gone as quickly as it came and she shrugged.

"Good, maybe you'll work harder now that you're fighting for her instead of me." Elena and Mason both immediately looked at random parts of the room, feeling awkward in the intense moment their mates were sharing. Damon gritted his teeth and those beautiful eyes of his narrowed.

"Are you insinuating that I didn't fight hard enough for you? Do you remember that I ruined my already strained relationship with my father by leaving the military to be with you and what do I find when I come home? You sleeping around with my brother. If anyone didn't fight hard enough for us it's you. I fought for you for 145 years, Kat. Obviously that wasn't good enough, and I'm damn glad it wasn't because every miserable day of my prolonged life after you screwed me up eventually led me to Elena, and now I can finally be happy. This isn't exactly the Katherine free life I was expecting when Elena and I got together, but you know, life is never perfect." He spat coldly. Katherine put her hands on her hips and stalked towards him.

"Then it's a good thing I'm moving to Florida as soon as I find my daughter." She slapped him hard across the face and turned on her heels, storming from the kitchen and toting Mason behind her. He sighed heavily and called after her.

"Katherine, wait…I'm sorry." She turned around for a moment and looked him dead in the eyes.

"I'm sorry too Damon, sorry I ever came back for either one of you immature wastes of air." Elena turned to Damon after she left, her face wrought with confusion.

"What the hell was that?" Damon shook his head.

"I don't know…I had this dream last night about a letter I'd written to Katherine in the war and I guess seeing her while I was lost in this era brought back some of the hostile emotions I have locked up for her." Elena laid her hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed it.

"I understand, she used you. Maybe all this was a mistake…" He leaned in and kissed her gently.

"No, baby. The trip down memory lane made me really happy. _You _made me really happy." She beamed.

"Well good, Mr. Salvatore, because I have more 1860's goodness awaiting you." Damon's eyebrow rose.

"Oh really? Such as?" She winked at him and ran one of her fingers down his chest seductively.

"It's a surprise."


	15. Territorial Originals

Klaus had Scarlett up on his back, running around the hotel room on all fours. He was basking in the giggles that were coming from the little one, who had just turned four today.

"Faster wolfy faster!" She squealed, as Klaus complied and crawled as fast as he could. Klaus was working so hard on his crawling that he didn't noticed when he rammed full force into Caroline's knees and fell on to his stomach. Scarlett rolled off his back, the both of them bursting into a fit of laughter. Caroline watched in complete awe as her usually malicious hybrid boyfriend was cuddling with the tiny vampire on the floor. Scarlett cuddled into his chest and he wrapped his arms securely around her.

"I love you, Uncle Klaus. I really wish I was a hybrid like you." He rested his chin atop her head and sighed.

"I wouldn't mind having you around as one either, love. It would be a hell of a lot easier to keep you safe too, if I didn't have to worry about Tyler biting you or anyone else I care about. The idiot hasn't been thinking straight."

"It would be fun to be a wolf like you…you're a lot nicer than my daddy." Klaus raised his eyebrows.

"Where did that come from, sweetheart?" She looked a little bit scared, shrugging.

"You've never hit me." Caroline's eyes widened in alarm.

"When has Stefan ever hit you?"She sighed, her bottom lips quivering.

"Only a few times…when I mentioned Mommy." Klaus's eyes narrowed and he clinched his teeth. He petted her curls gently and bellowed out "STEFAN!" He was about to go look for him when he didn't respond, but instead there was a knock on the door.

"Caroline, would you get that my darling?" Caroline nodded and went to get the door, smiling when she saw who it was.

"It's Bekah." Rebekah smiled at her and walked towards her brother.

"I'm here for the wedding." Klaus beamed.

"I'm glad you could make it…did you find and bring Elijah and Kol? Can't get married without my brothers." Rebekah's smile faltered.

"No, that's the other reason I'm here. I healed Damon with your blood from a werewolf bite to soften Elena up, but I need Katherine to be on our side too before I can get them to undagger Elijah. I need to bring her daughter back to her. Kol was being a dick…didn't want to bring him along, sorry." Klaus's arms tightened around Scarlett.

"No. She's ours, Katherine can't have her." Rebekah glared at her brother.

"So wait, not only are you having this one million dollar spur of the moment wedding with Care, but you're holding Katherine Pierce's daughter hostage as a make-shift adoption?" Her tone was accusatory and Klaus glowered at her."

"Scarlett likes it here, don't you angel?" Scarlett nodded and nuzzled Klaus shyly, hiding her face from Rebekah.

"Listen, Nik, I've kind of grown to like Elena…she helped me organize my first prom at Mystic High and she doesn't totally hate me. She's also been giving me pointers on Matt and…I feel like we have a budding friendship and I don't want to ruin it. I'm taking Scarlett home to her mum where she belongs." Klaus hissed at his sister, his fangs barred.

"I said no, sister. End of story; now go get me Elijah and Kol so I can happily marry my girl. And if you happen to see Stefan while you're out send him my way…I'm going to beat the shit out of him." Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Did he betray you again?" He kissed the top of Scarlett's head and gently stroked her hair.

"I guess you could say that…you don't hurt people I love and get away with it, no matter how you're related to them. Especially not when I'm planning on turning them into one of my hybrids." Scarlett shot up in his arms.

"Really?! You found a way?" Klaus smirked.

"I might have…consider it a birthday present, along with the gift I bought you, of course." He said with a wink.

Back at the boarding house Damon was giving Elena an intense dose of his Smolder-Eyes.

"What kind of surprise?" Elena grinned and twirled a piece of her hair on her finger.

"Go into the backyard and you'll see." He extended his arm to Elena and she took it, leading him to the backyard with Ian trailing behind them, Angel snuggled into his little arms. Damon's jaw dropped when he noticed the little white arch in the back and all the rose petals. Under the arch Ian took his place and tried to look all grown up. Elena picked up her old bouquet very carefully, since the flowers were long dead and then led Damon to the arch. He shot her a quizzical look.

"What's all this?" She grinned.

"We were apart for a long time, Damon, and we've suffered a lot of hardships. What better way to symbolize our reunion than renewing our vows? That is, if my handsome Confederate Soldier will take little old me?" She asked in her best southern accent. Damon laughed and gently caressed her cheek.

"I love you so much. I'd be a fool to say no." He replied in the same accent. Ian cleared his throat and tugged Elena's right hand into Damon's. The he looked worriedly at Elena.

"Mommy am I doing this right?" She nodded encouragingly and he smiled. Damon cocked his head to the side and Elena laughed.

"Ian said he wanted to marry us, and since marriage renewal isn't legally binding like an actual wedding I figured he could." Damon leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"It just makes it that much more special." He stopped when he felt Ian slap at his leg.

"Daddy no! You don't kiss the bride until I say so!" Damon chucked and leaned back,

"Ok, I'm sorry, Sebastian, continue."

"Do you take Mommy to be your awfully wedded wife?" Both Damon and Elena snickered at their son's mispronunciation of lawfully and looked down lovingly at him.

"I do." Ian grinned widely and looked at Elena.

"Do you take Daddy to be your awfully wedded husband?" She leaned her forehead tenderly against Damon's.

"I do." Ian bent down and picked Angel back up in his arms, holding her out between his parents.

"You are now married because Angel says so, you may kiss my mommy." He said proudly to Damon, laying his kitten over their entwined hands as if to make the whole thing official. Agitated, Angel flopped down off their hands and ran back into the house while Damon dipped Elena back and laid a long wet kiss on her. While they were kissing, Ian went and grabbed some fruit cake that Elena had made for the vow renewal (since that was what had been a traditional wedding cake in 1864) and broke two pieces off, handing each parent a piece.

"Now you have to shove it in each other's faces like they do in movies."

"But son, this cake is harder than regular…" He was cut off by Ian giving him the evil-eye and whining "doooo it!" He sighed and shot Elena an amused look.

"Hope it doesn't hurt." The two simultaneously rubbed it into each others faces awkwardly, sending the pair into a fit of laughter.

"God Damon this cake is so gross." She giggled, leaning on him for support. He chortled and wiped some of it clean from her face.

"I know baby, I know, imagine eating it back in my day when it was the specialty at _everyone's _wedding." He shuddered and grinned, picking up his son and pulling him and Elena into a group hug.

"You two are perfect." He whispered.

Meanwhile, Kol was walking into a little café towards the city limits, trying to take it him off of things. Life was hard when you were one thousand something years old and in love with a 21 year old that wants nothing to do with you. He ordered a frappe and sat down with a bored expression. He took a long sip of the sizzling drink and contemplated his existence. Recently he'd felt like it had no meaning if he couldn't make Bonnie see that there was good in him…good in him that was madly in love with her. And suddenly, as if on cue, there she walked in, the raven haired beauty that haunted him in his dreams. They made immediate eye contact and she stormed over to where he was seated.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She spat. Kol raised his hands in defense.

"Hey, I was here first, love." She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah well you're… stupid." Kol couldn't help but laugh.

"If that the best you've got? Seriously darling, I expected better from you." She chewed on her bottom lip, as if contemplating something and then she said "Well maybe I expected better of the man who said he'd take me on a date and never did." He smirked.

"Would you like me to take you out on a date?" She scowled.

"Not even if you were the last guy on Earth." His smirk grew.

"Wanna know what I think?" Bonnie folded her arms in annoyance.

"No." Kol ignored her and went on anyway.

"I think you aren't even mad, you just want an excuse to flirt with me." Her mouth dropped.

"How dare you, you self absorbed, arrogant, ill-conceived bastard! If you think for one moment that you can just waltz back into my life with your charming good looks and bad boy attitude you have another thing com-" She was cut off by Kol's lips as he roughly pulled her into him. Instead of pushing him away like he expected, she moaned into this kiss and wove her fingers into his hair. He parted his lips and asked for entrance, which she granted. Their tongues danced for only a matter of moments before Kol grabbed hold of her and flashed at vampire speed to Mikaelson Manor. He tore her shirt off and she hungrily pulled him closer, slipping off her skirt and panties and wrapping her legs around him. He growled in pleasure, taking her sweet lips with his, relishing in the fact that she was actually letting him touch her. He undid his pants and yanked off his boxers, teasing her by rubbing his erection along her folds. She pulled her head back in a moan, breaking the kiss. He leaned down and took one of her pert little nipples in his mouth, sucking hard and then slowly easing himself into her. Bonnie mewed and pulled hard on Kol's hair, electing a moan from the original vampire. He started to thrust, putting a killer grip on the headboard of his bed. Bonnie began to rock beneath him and the sounds coming from her godly mouth were driving Kol crazy. It was been so long, too long, and she was so tight that he could tell…he was the only one that had ever been with her. That thought almost drove him over the edge as he thrusted hard into her. He moved to the other nipple and began his assault, sucking in tune to his thrusts. He felt Bonnie's walls clamp around his pulsating cock and he screamed loudly, spilling his seed into her as she rode an intense orgasm.

"KOL." The sound of her screaming his name alone was enough to make him cum as second time, collapsing on top of her and taking in her sweet scent.

"I love you." He whispered. Bonnie, who had been tenderly caressing his back as he laid on her, suddenly froze. What the hell had she just done?


	16. Honorary Wolf

Bonnie woke up in Kol's arms, his nose buried into the crook of her neck. Her heart beat quickened and her stomach knotted. Had Kol Mikaelson really told her he loved her last night? The only man she'd ever been intimate with, the man that had broken her heart? She couldn't do this, not with him. He was a vampire, he'd be around forever and there she was, a small town witch with a lifespan of what? Ninety years max? She gently pushed his arm off of her and slid out of his bed. She put her bra and underwear on and grabbed his shirt, figuring she might as well at least keep a memory and slipping it on. She only barely made it to his door before she heard his sweet English accent ring out "Where you going, Beautiful?" She swallowed hard, her eyes filling with tears.

"I can't do this, Kol. I'm going home." He got out of bed and wrapped is arms around her from behind.

"What do you mean you can't do this? We already did it, and from what I could tell you thoroughly enjoyed it." He said smugly. She pried his arms off of her and turned to face him, her back against his bedroom door.

"I mean that I can't be with you. You really hurt me and I don't take things like that lightly. Besides…you're a vampire, Kol. What do you expect? To spend the rest of my life with me and then the rest of yours crying over the pathetic little witch you somehow fell for after I die? I'm _dying _Kol, everyday I get closer, just like a human. I don't want to do that to you." Kol was quiet for a moment before answering.

"You don't have to die if you don't want to. I am not Damon Salvatore, and I am not going to force you into something you don't want to be, but you don't have to leave me. That's your choice. You could spend as much as your life as a witch as you want and then show up at my doorstep, asking me for immortality. And I'd give it to you without blinking. We could be together forever." He whispered, gently caressing the side of her face.

"You don't have to be everyone's tool anymore, Bonnie. If you were a vampire you wouldn't be caught up in everyone's messes anymore, no one would force you into helping them with their problems, make you do spells that take too much out of you, make you push the spirits. You'd be free." Bonnie sighed and shook her head.

"Vampires are the reason my Gram's is dead. Why would I want to be the very thing that took her away from me." Kol smiled and gently touched his forehead to hers.

"You can't hate vampires, Bonnie. No matter how much you want too. Not when everyone you love is one. Elena, Caroline, Damon, Stefan, your mother, Katherine…and even me, if I'm lucky enough to be on that list. Besides, you don't have to worry about Grams. I'm going to bring her back for you." Bonnie suddenly looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Don't fuck with me Kol, that's not funny." Kol almost looked hurt.

"I'm not kidding…do you really think that low of me? I want you to have her back, you deserve it." Bonnie's tears spilled over and she softly took Kol's face in her hands.

"If she comes back she'd never accept me. Not if I was a vampire." Kol had to suppress the grin that was itching to break out on his face, noticing that she was considering his vampirism offer.

"She accepted Stefan, didn't she? Come on now, Bon's. She wouldn't turn away her own granddaughter. Family is forever, even my family knows that." They both laughed awkwardly and she leaned in to softly peck Kol's lips.

"I'll think about it." She turned and opened his door, descending the stares. Kol followed behind her.

"Think about what? Becoming a vampire? Bringing back your Grams? Being…my girlfriend?" He added the last part with a small and genuine little smile, making Bonnie blush. She shook her head with a coy little smile and opened his front door.

"I'm not telling. We can discuss it during dinner tonight, pick me up at seven." She started to close the door behind her but then she stopped, looking behind her and calling out.

"Oh, and Kol, Darling, if you don't show up I'm going to kick your ass." She shut the door with a wink and left Kol standing in the middle of the foyer with an enormous grin plastered on his face.

"And the judgey little thing scampers out of my house in nothing but my Van Halen T-Shirt…what a woman." He chuckled happily to himself.

In Chicago, Klaus was helping Scarlett put on his birthday present for her. Her party had been cut short the previous day when Klaus and Rebekah had gotten in a fight over him trying to turn Scarlett into a hybrid. Rebekah lost of course and was sent on her way to retrieve their other family members and Klaus, Caroline, and Scarlett went on to bed. Now that it was morning, Klaus had gotten the young vamp up early to receive both of her presents. The first was a necklace that he had made himself. He fastened the clasp for her and she looked down at it in awe.

"Whoa, Uncle Klaus, is that a werewolf?" He grinned at her.

"Yeah, it's a wolf I whittled out of pure silver. It opens like a locket, and there's a small vile of my blood in it. That will protect you from Tyler until I can give you your other present." She pointed to the crescent shape hanging beside the wolf.

"What's that?"

"Ah, that's a crescent moon that I made out of Swarovski crystal…do you like it?" She jumped into his arms.

"I love it, thank you!" He chuckled and squeezed her gently.

"I thought you would, my little honorary wolf." Caroline grabbed Scarlett's coat and held it out.

"Come on sweetheart, we need to go look for a new witch." Klaus put Scarlett down and she let Caroline help her with her coat. Caroline grabbed a pink ribbon and tied Scarlett's long curls up into a high ponytail and took her hand. Scarlett looked excited and reached out with her free hand for Klaus.

"We're finding a replacement for the one you killed for Aunt Caroline?" Klaus nodded and opened the door.

"Yes love, but the witch we're going to find helped me a few years ago with my hybrid curse. Since she helped me break the stupid spell my mother put on me I figure she'd be strong enough to turn you into a hybrid. Let's find out, shall we?" Scarlett nodded eagerly and the three of them set out. They didn't walk far before Klaus's cell went off.

"Bekah, love, did you find Elijah and Kol already?" She sighed.

"Well I just found Kol, but he said he can't come until tomorrow…something about an important date…I'm still working on Elijah. But FYI, this isn't why I called. I found Stefan drunk in my bed when I got home…and we…" Klaus almost gagged.

"You're such a slut, Rebekah, tell me you didn't! You know what, no, tell me you did because it will make it that much more fun when I rip him limb from limb." He spat.

"She'll never forgive you, you know. If you kill him." Klaus gritted his teeth.

"Sure she will. I'm immortal, she'll be immortal when she turns sixteen, forever is a long time to hate someone. Besides, I'm the one raising her, Stefan is never around much anymore. These last few months you might as well say that she belongs to Caroline and I."

"But she doesn't, Nik, and that's the problem. She's Katherine's."

"Just shut up and send the bastard my way will you? We're heading to Louisiana."

Back at the boarding house, there was a harsh knock on the door. Damon got out of bed and cautiously went down stairs, wondering why the hell someone was so eager to get in. He grimaced when he saw who it was.

"Well, well, well. Who's been rubbing off on you, Stefan? You actually _knocked _instead of barging in." Stefan shrugged.

"I figured I didn't live here anymore after what I did to Katherine." Damon sneered.

"You're damn right you don't live here anymore and Katherine is pretty close to overstaying her welcome as well. This is _my _house, what the hell are you doing back at it?" Stefan looked down at his feet sheepishly.

"I need your help." Damon started to close the door in his face.

"Goodbye, Stefan." Stefan grabbed the edge of the door.

"Damon wait! Please, it's about Scarlett." Damon snarled and swung the door back open, grabbing Stefan by the throat.

"What the hell have you done to her?"

"N-Nothing…Rebekah t-told me that Klaus is turning her into a h-hybrid soon. We can't let him." Damon let Stefan drop to the floor and he snorted.

"That's great, Stefan, then he won't be mooching off her blood anymore." Stefan shook his head.

"No, it's not! If he turns her that means he'll come right back to wanting to use your son as a blood bag."

"And why does this concern you, Stefan? You've never seemed to care about my son's well-being before, you've nearly killed him you know. What do you want?"

"Elena. Let me have Elena and I'll convince Klaus to leave your son alone, then he won't turn my daughter into a female version of himself and when he's done with her blood Katherine can have her back. Everyone wins." Damon punched Stefan hard in the face.

"Why are you so caught up on Elena? It's been over three years now Stefan, she doesn't love you, get over it. I don't even think you love her, you just want her because you can't stand not having something I want. You're used to taking everything from me, it's what you do. You took Mom, you took Dad, you took Katherine, you are _not _taking my wife from me. Elena is _mine _and she will always be mine. She's mine, Sebastian is mine, and Rose/Grayson is mine, this house is mine, my Camaro is mine, you just need to get over the face that you're a homeless unloved vampire bum whose own daughter prefers to spend her time with a killer than with you. Now get off my property before I stake you." Damon yelled, slamming the door in his brothers face. Seething, Damon threw the nearest object at the wall, waking Elena. She hurried down the stares and shot him a worried look.

"What's wrong, Damon?" He practically ran to her, pulling her into a really needy kiss and then placing lots of tiny kisses all over her belly.

"Stefan legit just asked me to my face to let him have you." Elena's face turned red and she started to stalk angrily to the door before he pulled her back.'

"Nuh-uh, not worth it. Go upstairs, I need you." A dirty little smirk crossed her face.

"How do you need me?" Damon leaned in and nibbled at her neck.

"I think you know."

Outside the house Stefan was cursing, angry that his plan hadn't worked. He didn't even want Scarlett anymore, Katherine could have her for all he cared. All Stefan had ever wanted this whole time was his woman back but she always seemed out of reach. He had actually gathered the courage to call Elena and ask her to come back to him herself but it started ringing before he could dial.

"Hello?"

"Hello, mate. Didn't Rebekah tell you to be on your way to Louisiana? If I were you I'd hurry…wouldn't want me calling Elena and telling her that you've been hurting your daughter would you? I could only imagine the beating her dear little husband would give you." Stefan hung up in a huff and threw his cell phone at Damon's car, leaving an enormous dent.

"I'm not finished here, Damon. Just you wait." And in a flash, he was headed towards Klaus.


	17. Crying Wolf

Three months passed before Damon finally got a lead on where Stefan was. Rebekah had disappeared for Klaus's wedding and had taken Bonnie and Kol with her, and Elijah's body had mysteriously disappeared from the cellar. Damon helped Elena into the car to drive her to her monthly trip to Dr. Fell and dialed Mason's number.

"Hey, Mason, I know you said you'd been a little worried about Kat's health lately, and I'm taking Elena to see Meredith today, you guys want to tag along and get her checked out?" Mason actually sounded pleased to hear Damon's voice for once.

"Look at you, being all concerned and friendly like. Katherine's right, Elena really did change you over the years." Mason sounded amused but Damon rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Listen, Dick, do you want to come along or not? Besides, this isn't just about Katherine not feeling well, I was hoping you'd accompany me on a little road trip later today to find my brother and Scarlett. I'm going to make that bastard pay for denting my fucking car, it's a classic!" Mason chuckled and nodded, even though he knew Damon couldn't see him through the phone.

"Sounds great man, we'll be there soon." They hung up and Damon took Elena's hand, gently giving it a squeeze as they pulled out of their driveway.

"You alright, Princess?" Elena sighed and laid her other hand gently across her belly.

"I'm fine; the baby has just been moving an awful lot more than Ian did when I was seven months along with him. This one likes to kick me in the ribs." Damon laughed at the scrunched up face Elena made.

"I sympathize with your pain?" He chuckled, giving her a lopsided smile. She slapped his arm gently and snickered.

"Like hell you do." Damon playfully gasped and put his finger to his lips.

"Watch your mouth ma'am, little ears are listening." She rolled her eyes as they drove up to Meredith's office.

"Ian isn't here, he's with Jeremy." Damon smirked.

"I know, but children listen through the womb you know. It'll be on you if it comes out saying hell." This made Elena snort and she pulled Damon into a tender kiss.

"I love you so much." Damon winked and got out to open her door for her.

"I know." He then extended his hand and helped her out. About that time Katherine and Mason drove up and Katherine did _not _look good. She was a little sweaty, whimpering, and Mason had to carry her to the office door. Elena looked worried and Damon kissed her temple in comfort, holding the door open for all of them. Meredith was shocked to say the least when all four of them walked in for the appointment.

"Something's wrong with Katherine…could you check her out first before we start on me?" Elena asked worriedly, Damon putting his hand on the small of her back in comfort. Meredith nodded and motioned for Mason to lay her on the examining table. She checked her vitals and hooked her up to an ultrasound machine to get a better look at what could possibly be going on inside. Her eyebrows furrowed and she shook her head.

"Well Kat…you're definitely pregnant but that's not explaining why you're in so much pain…unless…" Katherine got a look of pure terror on her face.

"Unless what?" Meredith took a deep breath.

"Your boyfriend…he's not a vampire is he?" She shook her head.

"No…" At this point even Damon was beginning to sweat, upset that he'd been fighting with someone who possibly had something horribly wrong with her.

"You're a vampire and he's a werewolf…the wolf gene is dominant and your child's body is probably rejecting its vampire gene. It's killing it." She said softly. Mason's entire body went stiff and Katherine let out a loud cry.

"There has to be something you can do…right?" Mason asked in a panic. Meredith thought for a moment.

"Considering what Klaus has to do to make hybrids, I'd say either you have to drink the blood of a live Doppelganger or you're going to miscarry."

"But I was the last Doppelganger and now I'm a vampire…" Elena said in desperation, feeling absolutely awful for her friend.

"What about the children? The purebloods are also able to complete hybrid transitions with their blood, that's why Klaus has Scarlett." Mason asked, looking pleadingly at Damon and Elena. Katherine reached out a shaky hand for Mason.

"We can't ask that of them…with Scarlett gone we'd have to use Ian, and that's not right." Elena and Damon made eye-contact and nodded at one another, silently promising to help them. Damon pulled out his phone and called Jeremy, asking him to rush over with Ian as soon as he could.

In Louisiana, Stefan had been living it up in New Orleans, completely ignoring Klaus's request to meet him just outside the city. Stefan figured Klaus was wanting Scarlett off his hands but Stefan didn't want the little brat, instead using his time to party with his newly compelled girlfriend, Greta. Stefan was feeling up on her in the middle of a strip club, when lots of familiar faces stopped by. Klaus, Caroline, Bonnie, Kol, Rebekah, and Scarlett all headed in Stefan's direction and he froze, especially when he noticed that Greta had started laughing.

"Ah, Ripper, we meet again. I told you to meet me on the outskirts, and you disobeyed me. That's strike three my friend, the first being when you betrayed me three years ago and the second when you hit Scarlett. Looks like you're out, mate." Stefan sneered and Klaus took a step closer.

"Greta, darling, thank you again for all your help in successfully turning my little Scarlett here into a hybrid, she loves all her new-found strength." Shock washed over Stefan's features and he turned to Greta.

"You're a witch?!" She smirked.

"Yeah, and I'm a witch whose been drinking vervain for a very long time. I only let you believe you'd compelled me to be your little girlfriend so I could help Klaus locate you." Stefan shook his head in confusion.

"But why would you help Klaus turn a three year old into a hybrid? She'll never age now."

"She's four, Stefan, but you wouldn't know that since you were mysteriously absent for her birthday, would you?" Klaus snarled. Greta ignored the death glares between the two men and answered Stefan's question.

"I'm a very powerful witch, Stefan. I was able to not only turn her, but keep her pureblood status intact. She will still age until sixteen, and then she will gain her fangs, become immortal, and possess the ability to shift at will if she triggers her curse. You should be proud, Stefan, your daughter is only four years old and is already one of the most powerful beings on Earth. Once she gets older she probably will even exceed Klaus in strength since she's purebred and the Doppelgangers blood runs through her veins." Klaus grinned proudly and kissed the top of Scarlett's head before turning his attention to Greta.

"I have only one more thing to ask of you, love. My brother and his girlfriend here are looking to bring someone back from the dead, they have the ingredients they just need you for the spell." Greta shrugged and smiled.

"Sure, you're paying me well enough." She took Kol and Bonnie outside and Klaus turned to Caroline.

"You ready my love?" She nodded, taking off her new, highly expensive pink diamond wedding ring and handing it to Rebekah.

"Didn't want to bloody it up." Klaus smiled in loving approval and Stefan's eyes widened.

"Ready for what?" Klaus was suddenly behind him, gripping both of Stefan's arms and holding him tightly in place.

"I'm sorry, Stef, I wish we could have remained friends like we were in the twenties…but you've just done one too many things…" Scarlett looked from Klaus to her father, it just now registering in her mind what Klaus was planning.

"No Uncle Klaus, not Daddy. Kill someone else for dinner." Hearing that was like a knife in Klaus's heart but he had to keep going; he just couldn't forgive Stefan for hurting Scarlett. No matter what anyone said…she was _his _little girl, and she was better off without Stefan always doing things to hurt not only her, but her family.

"This isn't for our dinner tonight, Scar. This is for revenge. You'll learn about that as you get older, sometimes it's something you just have to do." Stefan didn't even make eye-contact with his daughter, instead shooting a pleading look at Rebekah.

"Bekah no, we have something…don't let him do this." She shrugged.

"Yeah you were sure acting like we had something when you were sleeping around with Greta. Not just on my behalf, but on the behalf of Scarlett, Katherine, Elena, and even Damon…see you in hell, Stefan." Klaus nodded at Caroline who took one deep breath before shoving her hand in Stefan's chest, her hand around his heart.

"I'm sorry, Stefan." She mumbled quietly, saying goodbye to her friend as she mercilessly ripped his heart out.

"NO!" Scarlett screamed, sinking to the floor in uncontrolled hysterics as she watched Caroline drop Stefan's heart to the floor. She curled her tiny body into a ball, pulling her knees to her chest and sobbing loudly. Klaus let Stefan's body go and he reached out to touch Scarlett before she flinched away.

"Leave me alone." Klaus's feelings were obviously hurt, but he understood, and sat down a few feet away from her, his sad eyes watching his young one cry.

"I'm sorry, Little Wolf, I really am. Maybe one day you'll realize that it was for the best." Caroline wiped her hands clean and applied some hand-sanitizer before putting her wedding ring back on and sitting in Klaus's lap. He buried his face in her long blond curls and sighed. He'd just ruined everything.


	18. Splinters and Stakes

"Okay so do you have everything I need?" Greta asked, looking from Kol to Bonnie. Kol's grip on Bonnie's hand tightened lovingly and he nodded. He looked over at the beautiful woman beside him, counting his lucky stars that all the dates they'd had these last few months had totally won her over. She smiled at him and nodded in approval as he got her Gram's brush from a duffle bag and handed it to Greta.

"We were told only vampires could be brought back…so she'll come back a vampire if we perform the ritual right?" Greta nodded and Bonnie bit her lower lip.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this, Kol. She won't be happy as a vampire." He gently leaned in and pecked her lips in reassurance.

"You could be vampires together though, maybe she'd be less bitter about it if she knew she had you around for eternity to help her…I mean you made the decision to become one when we got back together, I just haven't turned you yet." Bonnie sighed.

"I guess you're right." Greta looked surprised.

"Well if it's going down like this, I suggest you turn her right after I get her tears for the ritual. If a Bennett witch wakes up a vampire and sees her granddaughter ready and willing to become one I don't want to be around for the fight afterwards. You need to have it done before your Grams wakes up." Kol looked worriedly at her, not wanting to push her in to anything.

"You sure about all this, Bon's?" She nodded, happily taking both of Kol's hands.

"I want to be with you forever." He smiled very gently and bit his wrist.

"As you wish, my darling." He very tenderly fed her his blood and then threw a vile of it at Greta, knowing that in order to bring Grams back a vampire she'd need vampire blood. Greta laid the blood and brush on an already sacrificed body that Kol had made available by killing a passerby on the side of the road. Bonnie cried over the body and then Kol softly compelled her pain away as he snapped her neck.

Back in Mystic Falls, Katherine was reluctantly feeding off of Ian's wrist to keep her from miscarrying. When she let go she felt immediately better and kissed Ian's forehead.

"Thanks little guy, I owe you one." Ian attempted to give her Damon's signature smirk.

"Did it work?" Katherine smiled.

"I think so…I'm not doubled over in pain anymore." Mason let out a long sigh of relief, not realizing he'd been holding his breath. Meredith patted the examining table after Katherine hopped off and offered her hand to Elena. She poured the cold blue goo over Elena's abdomen and pulled up a nice little picture of their baby like she had three months prior.

"Aw, you guys are going to be thrilled." She said happily. Damon's excited grin grew and he squeezed Elena's hand.

"What is it?"

"It's a girl." Damon kissed the top of Elena's head, rubbing her belly in a circular motion.

"Rose." He whispered, earning a small sniffle from Elena. They were only allowed to bask in the bliss of the news for a short while however, being interrupted by a somber phone call.

"Damon, it's me…Rebekah. I felt like I owed it to you to call and tell you that your brother is…he's…Klaus and Caroline killed him as Scarlett watched." Damon's phone had been on speaker and the entire room fell dead silent. Damon dropped his phone to the floor, feeling like his entire world had just shattered. Tears came immediately and Elena got up after Meredith cleaned her up and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I am so sorry, Damon." For the first time since he thought he'd lost Elena and Ian, Damon cried, and he cried _hard_. He gripped Elena's shirt and buried his face into her neck and she softly petted his hair in comfort.

"Why does this always happen to me, Princess? Why is my life so fucking tragic? I don't know what I did." He sobbed, letting it all out safely in the arms of his wife. Elena had never once seen him like this; this was even different from her no-walls unguarded 1864 Damon…this Damon was broken in the most human way possible. It lasted briefly, however, before Mason tried to touch him in comfort and all the stone-cold walls that Elena had eroded over the years came back up.

"Don't you dare touch me; I don't know what I am capable of doing to you at the moment, Mason. To anyone." He spat, lashing out at anything possible. He kicked an enormous hole in Meredith's wall and screamed "God damn it" as loud as he could. Ian started crying and he half-terrified reached out for Damon's hand.

"D-Daddy?" You could visibly see Damon's eyes soften at the sound of his son's voice and a few of his walls came crumbling back down. He picked him up and cradled him in his arms.

"I didn't mean to scare you, come on. Your mother and I need to go get Uncle Stefan's body back from Louisiana." He said somberly, trying so hard to sound strong for his son. He took Elena's hand and they ran at vampire speed to New Orleans.

When they got there, Elena's hand immediately flew over her mouth. Bonnie was lying limp in Kol's arms and there was a witch standing over the body of someone Elena had been yearning to see for a long time.

"_Jenna?_" She whispered gently. Kol was looking very confused at the young pale girl that he had just resurrected…that was definitely not Bonnie's Grams. Bonnie and Jenna both shot up at the same time, taking a hard and very sharp breath. Kol pulled a blood bag from the duffle bag to feed Bonnie while she stared hardly at Jenna as well.

"Jenna? Kol….I don't understand…" Understanding suddenly washed over his features.

"You and Elena had all your dead family members stuff packed in one small storage unit together right? What if we picked up the wrong hairbrush…?" Noticing the totally bummed look on her face, he added "We can try again, go through the stuff once more to get the right brush." Bonnie sighed and shook her head.

"No, I think this was a sign. Grams wouldn't want to be a vampire, Kol, she'd be miserable. Let's just be thankful that we have Jenna back." Kol smiled adoringly at her and kissed her temple.

"As you wish." Elena ran to Jenna and hugged her fiercely.

"I can't believe you're back! I've missed you so much!" Jenna squealed and hugged Elena back.

"Whoa…are you?" Elena nodded happily and Damon walked up and put his hand on her stomach, as if he felt the need to claim it in front of Jenna. She cocked her head to the side.

"You and him? What happened to Stefan? Elena, please tell me you didn't leave Stefan just to get knocked up by his douche of a-" Elena cut Jenna off by sadly shaking her head.

"Now is not the time…Jen." She took Damon's hand and the couple slowly walked into the club, Jenna, Bonnie, and Kol trailing behind them. Damon handed Ian to Elena after he saw Stefan's limp body on the floor. Scarlett shot up and ran to her uncle, tears still streaming down her face.

"Uncle Damon! Please take me home." She wailed, trying to distance herself from the people she'd once cared very much about. Klaus's face contorted into a sheer look of hurt but he stayed seated and didn't protest, knowing it was for the best.

"One moment, sweetheart." He yanked a chair leg off of a bar stool and savagely drove it threw Klaus's heart.

"I know this won't kill you, but I hope it damn well hurt." Klaus coughed a little and tried to talk through his pain.

"I did you a favor…he never would have left you alone." Damon growled harshly and wrapped his hands around Klaus's neck.

"This is for my baby brother." He spat, snapping the hybrids neck and flinging Stefan's body over his shoulder. He took one last glance before exiting the club, his eyes falling on Caroline, Elijah, and Rebekah.

"Fuck you all." And with that he ushered his family out and slammed the door behind him, shattering it into nothing but splinters.


	19. His Saving Grace

Once finally back home, Damon and Elena locked themselves in their room while Jenna got settled in back at Jeremy's house. They had a little bit before she and the other family members came over for a small memorial service. Damon was sitting broken hearted and miserable at the foot of their bed while Elena wrapped her arms around him and stroked his raven colored hair. Silent manly tears escaped and Damon's body shook softly, however refusing to make any noise. Elena knew better than to comment, simply trying to think of a way to cheer him up a little.

"Heaven's gift to me, just the way you are. A new aged child, always in my heart." Dam tried to smile but couldn't and the pained voice that escaped his lips nearly tore her heart in half.

"Don't Elena," He whispered.

"I can't do this. All the years I spent hating him…I wish I could take it all back. I wish that Katherine had never done this to us, that we could have remained the best friend type of brothers that we'd always been. Stefan never wanted to be a vampire anyway, he should have gotten to live a normal human life, we both should have. I should have died in the war, with honor, so I'd never live to see the day my baby brother took his last breath." A tear slowly slid down Elena's cheek and she pulled him as close as possible.

"Don't say that. If you'd died in the war you'd have caused Stefan pain, all this pain that you feel would have been put off on him. I know you don't really want that." Damon shook his head.

"Yes I do, Elena. Because I am that selfish. Stefan was always better at handling grief than me anyway…I, I do stupid things when I'm upset and you know that." She sighed and leaned in to kiss his temple in comfort.

"You haven't this time. You aren't the same person you were when I met you, Damon. You don't do things to sabotage yourself anymore, you're less reckless, which I think becoming a father did to you, and you always put your family above anything else. I know this hurts, I've lost a lot of people I care about too. But we can get through this, together." Damon turned his tear-streaked face to his wife and very tenderly captured her lips.

"I love you so much, Elena. I've been a terrible person, I make all the wrong choices and yet you've stuck by my side through every bit of it. The only thing I don't regret about becoming a vampire is getting the opportunity to fall in love with you and have children with you. You're my princess of darkness, and I have you all to my self for as many life times as you'll allow. That's the one thing I could never regret, ever." Elena smiled as Damon rubbed her baby bump and stood to unlock their bedroom door, which someone had been banging on.

"Daddy, someone's at the door." Feeling a little better, he chuckled and ruffled his sons hair.

"Thanks, Ian, I'll go get it." Elena followed behind him and took Ian's hand, the three surviving Salvatore's all heading into the foyer. It was Jenna, Jeremy, Adriana, Bonnie, Kol, and Alaric.

"Damn, Jen, you weren't kidding when you said the _entire _family was coming over." Jenna beamed and Damon noticed that she was holding Alaric's hand.

"I got her back, Damon. I got her back." Alaric whispered with tears in his eyes. Damon shot his friend a goofy grin and pulled him into a hug.

"Congrats, man, I know how much you love her." Alaric grinned back and whispered.

"No kidding, I'm planning on proposing tonight." Damon winked proudly and then ushered them all into the house. Katherine, Mason, and Scarlett heard all the ruckus and joined them too, causing Elena to have to get a lot of dinning room chairs to seat everyone. Damon was standing with a bottle of whiskey raised in the air, a large picture of Stefan propped up beside him.

"I don't have much to say. He was my brother and I'm gunna miss him like hell. But he was also a self righteous little sac of balls, and I hope that if he can hear me right now he knows that if and when I die I will kick his ass all over The Other Side for leaving me. For leaving us." Damon had an awkward expression on his face, and his voice was raised a little louder than he'd meant for it to be.

"Damon…" Elena squeaked, looking up at him with concerned eyes.

"Baby you know I suck at speeches…the fact that _I'm _the one that has to do this totally blows!" He whispered frantically. Alaric and Jeremy both struggled to contain their laughter out of respect for Stefan and Elena's face grew even more distressed.

"No, Damon, I think my water just kind of broke." In a bit of a panic, Damon downed every bit of the Whiskey in his glass and look upward toward where he assumed Stefan was, despite knowing vampires didn't go to heaven.

"It's always gotta be your fault, doesn't it?" Elena made a little whimpering noise and Damon helped her stand.

"Okay, everybody out, we have to go to the hospital. Mazel Tof, Stefan!" Dam called out, swooping Elena into his arms and heading toward the door, Ian hurriedly trailing behind them. Jeremy's eyebrows furrowed.

"I didn't know Damon was Jewish…" Alaric snorted.

"He isn't, I bet the idiot doesn't even know what that means." He grinned in Damon's direction, knowing full well he could hear him. Damon just laughed and shot him a bird.

"You coming or not, Papa Saltzman?" Alaric nodded eagerly and strapped Ian into his car seat while Damon put Elena in the passenger seat. They headed towards the hospital quickly, the rest of the family right behind them in a separate vehicle.

"Grandpa Ric, is Mommy going to be okay?" Alaric patted Ian on the top of the head.

"Yes, she's just getting ready so that you can meet your little sister." Ian looked quiet excited and was enjoying that his father was breaking the speed limit fearlessly.

"Faster, Daddy, faster!" Damon gave his signature smirk and floored it, causing the already in pain Elena to grab on to the dashboard.

"Damon stop, you're going to miss the hospital!" He pouted and looked back at his son who was making a pout face identical to his.

"God, you really are my son." He chuckled, in awe at just how much Ian really did look like him. They pulled in to the parking lot and got everyone out and ready. They did have to wait a few minutes for the other car, however, because Damon's reckless driving had left them in the dust. Elena's contractions were coming along a lot harder and faster than when she'd had Ian and within the short five minutes it took for the rest of the group to arrive, Damon was already having to go through the breathing motions with her. She was clutching her swollen belly in agony and Damon was gently rubbing soothing circles on it when Jenna drove up. They piled out of the car in under ten seconds at the sight of the Doppelganger and sprinted briskly into the hospital. Thankfully Meredith had just walked to the front desk to gather some paperwork and immediately saw them.

"You're not due for another two months…" Damon rolled his eyes.

"Yeah well my daughter makes the rules, and apparently the rules say it's time to come out." Damon snapped, the stress of everything that had happened recently making him irritable. Meredith was taken back, but nodded, noticing that Elena seemed to be in a severe amount of pain. She walked them all back into one of the birthing rooms and then turned to eye the large group.

"So um…you know that not all of you can be in here, right? Only Damon and two other people." Without caring which two accompanied them, Damon went ahead and slowly walked Elena to the bed, making sure she was all snuggly and comfortable like the amazing husband that he was. It was decided among the rest of the entourage that it should be Bonnie and Jenna in the room and Meredith closed the door, making everyone else go to the waiting room. Jenna was smiling like an idiot as she watched Damon protectively brush her hair out of her eyes and whisper sweet nothings in her ear.

"He really did turn out to be your night in shinning armor, didn't he?" Elena looked like she was about to cry.

"Oh he's perfect, Aunt Jenna. He's my every….ugh!" Damon nuzzled her neck gently with his face and shushed her.

"Don't talk, Princess, you need to relax." Bonnie giggled excitedly.

"Kol treats me like that…I don't know what it is about vampires but their so…chivalrous." Jenna snorted.

"They're old." Damon glared at them.

"You know…you two are vampires too so shut your cakehole's." Elena gritted her teeth.

"Why don't you all shut up?" Damon petted her hair apologetically.

"Meredith, is she ready?" Meredith nodded, checking her cervix once more to confirm.

"She can push any time she's ready." Damon turned his loving and electrifying sapphire blue eyes to her and smirked.

"You wanna meet our daughter?" She answered with a quick kiss and tightly gripped his hand. Meredith spread her legs and Bonnie and Jenna lurked at the bottom of the bed.

"One, two, three, push." Elena went at it as hard as she could, wanting this baby out as soon as possible. Damon cooed sweetly to her and tenderly massaged her ovaries the same way he did when she had period cramps. She sighed in comfort, loving the familiar feeling and batting her doe eyes up at Damon as a thank you. She pushed once more with all her might, crying a little as she felt a tiny body slip out of her. Meredith caught the baby in her arms and proudly announced that it was a little girl. The soft cry made Damon's heart swell and he reached out for her. Meredith placed the tiny baby in her father's arms.

"Elena…can I ask you something?" He asked, his eyes never leaving his blue eyed baby girl.

"Anything." She breathed, feeling like her world was complete now that she had a little girl that looked just like the most important person in her world.

"Instead of Violet Rose can we call her Stefani Rose? It would give me some peace of mind about my brother." Elena reached out to gently caress her husbands face.

"We all loved Stefan, of course." Damon kissed her forehead and handed Stefani to her.

"She's beautiful, Damon." Jenna burst into tears and Bonnie congratulated the happy couple. Damon told Jenna to go get Ian and let him see his new sister and he took a few moments to just reflect. He may have lost his brother, but he had an amazing wife and two adorable children. Not only that, but he also had nine amazing people out in that waiting room that loved them unconditionally and were the best family he could have ever asked for. Damon Salvatore had been to hell and back, his life had been so chalked full of misery that it was a miracle he was even still standing. But he had surrounded himself with people that finally loved and needed him after a previous 145 years of having nothing. Now he was a husband, a father, a best friend, and a pretty awesome uncle if he did say so himself. Maybe, just maybe, becoming a vampire wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to him, it was his saving grace.


	20. Epilogue

*Twelve Years Later*

It was Scarlett's sixteenth birthday and she'd woken up in extreme pain. She ran in to Ian's room and shook him awake.

"Ian, Ian, I think my fangs are coming in!" He sat up excitedly and begged her to open her mouth. Sure enough, two fangs were pushing out of her gums and over her canines.

"They are, Scar! Go to the bathroom and look!" Both teens raced each other to the hallway half bath and watched in awe as they became fully unsheathed. She shot her cousin a fanged grin.

"I don't need blood bags now…I can feed on people, you jelly?" He gave her his father's signature smirk, which he'd finally mastered.

"You know it!" He helped her brush her long golden brown curls and waited on her to get ready while he went back to his room and threw on a black button-down John Varvatos and dark wash jeans, allowing his messy raven hair to hang haphazardly over his sapphire colored eyes. It was becoming difficult to tell him apart from his father, so he guessed it was a good thing he was going to stop aging in a few months. He heard his door open and he turned to see his little sister in the doorway, dressed in a purple jumper with white tights and she had a large grin on her face.

"I just saw Scarlett come from her room…she looks beautiful." Ian smiled warmly and walked over to fix her lopsided ponytail.

"Not as beautiful as my baby sister, now c'mon." Stefani's face turned red.

"I'm not a baby…I'm twelve." Ian rolled his eyes and took her hand, leading her downstairs and into the foyer. When they got down there they discovered that the entire family was down there. Jenna and Alaric were sitting on the couch with their eleven year old daughter Autumn and Jeremy and Adriana were playing on the carpet with there eight year old little girl, Harmony. Scarlett was stunning, wearing a long shimmering yellow sundress and having what seemed to be a heart-felt conversation with her mother while Mason played with his and Katherine's twins, Channing and Camden, who were about to turn twelve. Bonnie and Kol, whom had taken things slowly after her transition to a vampire, were newly married and had recently adopted a little Asian boy named Ichiro, who was five. Last but not least they spotted their parents off in a corner of the room feeding their two year old baby brother in his high chair. His name was Samuel Liam Salvatore, and just like when Ian had been born, Damon and Elena were both at odds for what to call him. Damon called him Sam, Elena called him Liam. Ian was convinced that his father simply had a thing for "S" names, but sided with him and referred to his baby brother as "Sammy". Sam was a little different than Ian and Stefani though, he was the only one of Damon's children that didn't look exactly like him. He had Elena's big brown doe eyes and silky brunette hair. Ian leaned over to whisper to Stefani.

"I swear, this is like a vampire bar mitzvah." Stefani giggled and ran to go help feed Sam. Ian followed behind her, not really knowing where else to go since everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. Damon took a look at his son and shook his head in disapproval.

"Sebastian, could you not have dressed a little nicer for your cousins sixteenth birthday, it's kind of a big deal, she's immortal now." Ian rolled his eyes.

"Dad, we're wearing the exact same clothes." He pointed out, earning a dammit-you-got-me-you-little-shit look from Damon. He folded his arms.

"No, I'm wearing designer jeans, thank you." He mumbled, sometimes hating it that his son had literally turned out exactly like him. Elena snickered, handing the blood and banana mixture to Stefani so that she could finish feeding Sam.

"What am I going to do when Liam turns out like you too? I thought one of you was hard to deal with." She teased playfully, wrapping her arms around Damon from behind and nuzzling into his neck. Damon pouted and grabbed one of her arms, pulling her to the front of him and leaning his forehead against hers.

"You won with getting to call Sebastian by his middle name, but you are not winning this one. His name is Sam." His voice was stern, but his eyes were gentle and full of adoration. She winked.

"Sure, we'll see about that." They both leaned in for a kiss and Ian turned green.

"I'm out." He walked over to Scarlett, since she was done talking to Katherine, and pulled her in to a bear hug.

"So how is my best friend this lovely morning?" Scarlett's bright green eyes were alight with mischief.

"Thirsty. I want an actual person to drink, the blood in the punch bowl is depressing me." Ian busted out laughing and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"You wait sixteen years to get fangs and when you finally do your parents become the morality police and won't let you use them?" He guessed, knowing how his entire family, aside from his father and Kol, felt about feeding on living people. She sighed.

"Sometimes I feel like I wasn't cut out for this life style…you know, the large family, the sheltered childhood. Being a good vampire and only drinking blood bags. Ian, I wasn't brought up the same way all of you were. For a year of my life…I was raised by my blood junky dad and a ruthless hybrid. As much as I hate to say it, that was the best year of my life, and as much as I hated Klaus for what he did to my father…I think I was just angry. It was never truly hate and…and I miss him." Scarlett was trying so hard not to cry, and Ian gently rubbed her back.

"It's okay to miss it, Scar. Klaus really made an impression on you when you were little. Hell, he turned you in to a hybrid, I mean, you're kinda tied to him for life." Scarlett reached up with her fingers to gingerly touch the necklace Klaus had made for her, which she never took off. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and the entire room fell silent. Damon's eyebrows rose.

"The whole family is here, so it must be one of Scarlett's friends from school or something. You're officially an adult vampire, why don't you go answer it?" He asked, looking at Scarlett encouragingly. Scarlett shrugged and walked to the door, confused as to who it might be. She knew there was going to be a lot of blood drinking, so she had purposely not invited any of her friends. When she opened the door she could no longer help it, the tears finally fell.

"Ello, Little Wolf." Klaus stood there with an arm full of roses and the large wolfish grin that she'd adored so much as a child.

"U-Uncle Klaus…"She whispered, taking the roses from him as he offered them. She threw the roses off to the side and hugged Klaus tightly, her cries becoming harder as she let all of her pint up emotions out. He gently ran his fingers through her hair and shushed her.

"I've missed you too." She sniffled a bit and pulled away from him.

"Please, come in." Klaus nodded and stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. Damon was at Scarlett's side within seconds.

"Step back, I'll handle this." Scarlett sighed.

"No, Uncle Damon. I want him here." Damon turned very hurt eyes towards her and she blanched.

"He killed your father…my brother." She looked at the floor, avoiding his gaze.

"Klaus was right, Uncle Damon, and you know it. Daddy never would have left us alone, he was a bad dude. Would you really still want him alive, still trying after all these years to steal Aunt Elena from you? Still beating me?" She accidentally let that last one slip and her hands flew over her mouth. Ever since she was four years old that had been a secret that only she and the Mikaelson's, minus Kol and his extended family, knew about. Klaus looked around awkwardly.

"Well, that was an interesting way to let the cat out of the bag, love." Damon's mouth dropped and it seemed like everyone in the room took a collective gasp.

"He what?! Why the hell didn't you tell anybody?" Tears filled her eyes again.

"I did." Damon followed her gaze to Klaus.

"You….is that why…?" Klaus nodded solemnly, feeling more and more awkward by the minute.

"Thank you." Everyone turned to look at Ian.

"She's not just my cousin, but my best friend. If Uncle Stefan wasn't treating her the way she deserved to be treated, I can't be angry with you for doing what you did." Ian and Damon locked eyes and he nodded knowingly at his father.

"Forgive and forget." Scarlett interjected, smiling lovingly at her cousin.

"Listen, mates, if it makes you feel any better I have given up on making hybrids. I have a wife, brothers and a sister, and I would really like it if I could have my little girl back." Scarlett smiled and reached for his hand, which he happily took.

"Will you teach me how to hunt?" Klaus's eyes were practically glowing.

"Of course, I was hoping to move back in to Mikaelson Manor…you could come live with me. It would be just like old times, and of course your mother could come see you any time she likes, and you wouldn't have to change schools." Klaus knew he was getting ahead of himself, but he really had grown to love her as a daughter and he was determined he wasn't leaving the boarding house without her.

"Excuse me, but you can't just walk in here and abduct my daughter!" Katherine barked.

"Who's abducting? I was offering her a place to live, not stealing her away, I'm not Stefan." Katherine's face was rigid but she looked down at the floor.

"Scarlett is an adult in the vampire world, as Damon said. If she wants to go…she can go." Damon reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.

"It's time she learned to make her own decisions. I'm going to be around forever to argue with her about them, but they're hers to make." He said with a wink, silently letting her know that he'd love her no matter what her decision was. She ran to Damon, squeezing him as hard as she could.

"I love you." He gently ruffled her curls.

"Love you too, Kiddo." She took a deep breath and looked around at all of her family. They were all waiting for an answer, some with affectionate looks, some with distraught ones, but she'd already made her decision.

"I'm going to live with Uncle Klaus." Nobody in the room had ever seen Klaus look quite that happy, not even Scarlett.

"That's my girl!" Damon just chuckled, he couldn't believe it, but he was actually chuckling. Damon knew that fifteen years of marriage had made him soft, but you know what? He just didn't give a damn. He was happy, Elena was happy, and they had three amazing children. It had been a wild, crazy, and sometimes stressful fifteen years, but they were the best Damon had ever had. He didn't have it within himself to stop Scarlett, and he found that he didn't even really want too. They had all finally reached a point in their insanely long lives where everyone was happy, and if making a truce with Klaus ensured that they'd all be happy for the next fifteen years, and the fifteen after that? Then it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

Damon Salvatore met Elena Gilbert on May 23rd 2009 and it was the one special moment that changed not only the course of his life, but the lives of everyone around him…forever.

(I would like to thank everyone for reading this story, I'm honestly a little sad that it's over. Since so many of you commented, I am pleased to inform you that there will be a sequel :D I will leave a note on here to inform you all when it's uploaded. Thank you.)


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